WITCH Dreams of Lusteria
by Galistar07water
Summary: The Prince of Darkness is missing and the Deadly Sins are being induced into the Universe, overbalancing Darkness over Light. The Guardians find themselves with weaker powers as they struggle to journey to the planet Lusteria where they must battle the sources of the Dead Sins and find the missing Prince. Can they work together and save Lusteria or will the "Light" divide them?
1. The New Guardians pt I

**W.****I.****T.****C.****H.****D****r****e****a****m****s**** o****f****L****u****s****t****e****r****i****a**

**By Galistar07water**

_**Disclaimer: W.I.T.C.H. is owned and copyrighted by the Walt Disney Company Italia and is in no way affiliated with the fictional works of Galistar07water.**_

_**Artist note: If you would like to see drawings of W.I.T.C.H. Dreams of Lusteria, please visit my deviantart dot com page and click the "W.I.T.C.H. Dreams of Lusteria" folder in the gallery section.**_

**_Chapter 01: The New Guardians pt. I_**

Darkness was spreading, coming closer and closer towards Kandrakar, a place known as the Center of Infinity. It did not make itself presented visually.

The white towers of Kandrakar continued to luster while its beautiful hills of Leer Alnitak continued to shine. However, despite the sounds of the babbling brook and the gentle breath of the wind, Leer Alnitak was now empty. The Elders who were in charge of tending the fields are absent and the laughter of children playing their games was gone. What was a magical garden of peace, beauty, and joy is now devoid of all life. This had rarely happen before in the history of Kandrakar. Something must have driven them away. Something dark and evil and strong enough to make all of the children abandon their games and made the Elders of Kandrakar fled inside the Fortress itself.

Yes, this darkness was brought forth by the wind. As the gentle breeze of space made its way into the shining hills of Leer Alnitak, all of the Elders who were both out in the fields and inside the Fortress had sensed it and they knew: Something was coming.

Within a matter of seconds, the Elders rushed inside the sanctuary of the fortress as a gentle voice rang throughout their minds, connecting them all with a gentle heart. The Oracle, Yan Lin, was calling them.

The Great Hall of Kandrakar had not been used for important meetings since the last Oracle, Himerish, resigned from his duty. Ever since the wise and honorable Yan Lin was promoted, she had insisted that the Elders would hold their meetings outside in Leer Alnitak instead. But not this time. As the former Guardian of Air, Yan Lin could tell that by holding an emergency meeting outside, she and the other Elders would not be able to clear their minds when they're being exposed to the feeling of darkness that is being carried by the space wind. No, the meeting must be held inside the Great Hall once again.

The room was being filled. Almost every members of the Council of Kandrakar were present. Yan Lin waited patiently on the central pedestal as she watched the room being filled with Elders in their humble light-colored robes. Suddenly, Tibor, an old friend, walked up towards her silently. He whispered something into her ears and she nodded seriously.

"Tell Endarno to let them in," she said. Tibor nodded.

Suddenly, another door to the hall opened and everyone turned to see Endarno. Behind him were the many rulers of the magical worlds under Kandrakar's protection. Unlike the wise men in their light-colored robes, these rulers stood out in their colorful royal attires. There was Ari of Akhantan with his blue hair and his fur-coat as he strode in proudly. Behind him came the stoned-beings of Olidos; standing tall and square. Following them were the primitive tree-dwellers of Negol; short with their green skins and bluish robes. Many other representatives walked in one after another. Each ones were guided to their seats by Endarno. Last but not least, the young ruler of Metamoor and the Light of Meridian made her presence known. Her appearance made the Great Hall shines all that brighter and it wasn't because of the glowing magical Crown of Light that's resting on her head. The Queen walked in gracefully, her pink dress bright and cheerful with golden gossamer wings tied around her waist. At her side was none other than Caleb, her most faithful soldier and recently, her love interest.

After Elyon and Caleb seated themselves, Endarno made his way up towards the pedestal.

"They are all here," he said.

"Very well," Yan Lin replied solemnly. "We may begin."

"Oracle! What is the meaning of this?" Ari demanded.

"Something is happening and it's not good!" cried a wise man.

"The children are frightened, Oracle," said one wise woman. "They are afraid to play outside in Leer Alnitak now."

"Something is coming," an Elder commented. "I can sense it and it is dark and powerful."

"That's impossible!"

"Oracle, what did you mean by that?"

Yan Lin held up her two hands as she tried to calm them down. "Everyone, please! I know that you are all concern and I do not blame you."

"Oracle, are you saying that there truly _is_ something terrible in the universe right now?" said another wise man.

Yan Lin confirmed and nodded solemnly. "Yes, I'm afraid so. You have all sensed it in the wind today. It is telling us that there is a new evil approaching and it is posing a new threat to Kandrakar and all of the worlds under its protection. It is with a solemn heart that I must inform you all that if this Darkness continues to approach, our Light will not be strong enough to withstand it."

The meeting broke into a sea of chaos as both groups of Elders and rulers shouted in despair.

"That's absurd! The Darkness cannot win against the Light!" a wise man spat defensively.

"Don't be so quick to judge, old man," Ari spat. "I should know because I have tampered with the dark powers of a banshee before."

"But the Light of Kandrakar and its entire world have always luster for eons!" another wise woman cried. Turning to everyone, she said with a high voice, "May I need to remind you all that Kandrakar was built by the Five Nymphs to defend the universe against the Darkness?"

"That's right," agreed an Elder sitting behind her. "And one of them was the Nymph of the Elements, Xin Jing! It was thanks to her and N'ghala, the Nymph of the Stars, that we now have the Guardians to defend us!"

"The Guardians!" another Elder realized. "They'll save us this time. Just like they always do through each generations!"

"But don't you remember Nerissa?!" said an Elder wise man in front of him. He stood up and pointed at everyone. "Even a Guardian can be corrupted by Darkness!" He then pointed accusingly at Yan Lin. "Oracle, you yourself know this better than anyone! She was once your friend!"

"Watch your tongue, Master En'doGu!" Endarno warned.

"It is alright, Endarno," Yan Lin said gently. "En'doGu and the others have every right to criticize me."

"Oracle, tell us exactly what is this new threat of Darkness? Surely you know how we can defend ourselves from it," Caleb spoke, his voice betraying the fact that he, too, is afraid of the answer.

Yan Lin shook her head sadly. "I am sorry, Caleb. Like my predecessor, I do not know everything, not even what this new threat is. All I know is that it is full of evil and darkness that can even diminish our Light."

The entire meeting broke into chaos once again as Elders and rulers argued with each others. On the pedestal, Endarno and Tibor are both trying their best to calm everyone down while Yan Lin looked on sadly. From the chaos, Elyon stood up quietly and the entire room silenced itself instantly.

With her intense gaze, Elyon nodded towards Yan Lin and said, "Oracle Yan Lin is right. As the Light of Meridian, I have always been able to sense dark entities that pose a threat on my people and my world. We had always been prepared to fight against these dark powers and creatures. But not this time and not like before."

Turning to face the entire Congregation and the summoned rulers, Elyon inhaled deeply before she raised a hand. A light emitted instantly from it, warm and bright with its intensive glow. It was dazzling as well as it was comforting. But to everyone's confusion, it suddenly died away. Shaking her head sadly, Elyon said, "My powers are dying and I know it has everything to do with this impending Darkness."

No one could say a word. They were all too shock and horrified to even respond. It was as if this Darkness was powerful enough to silence them all with just one demonstration of its magical effect. The Elders gave each other looks of fear and concerns while some of the rulers tried to manifest their powers only to find that it was much weaker than usual.

Shaking his head sadly, En'doGu spoke exactly what was on everyone's mind. "By the Light of Kandrakar, how is this happening?"

Suddenly, the silent room heard it. Approaching footsteps echoed loudly throughout the Great Hall as it came closer and closer. Then it stopped. Everyone in the room gave each other confused looks when all of a sudden, a door appeared magically and a man walked in. The entire Congregation gasped while Elyon and the other rulers all have a puzzled look on their faces.

The man was wearing a light-colored robe just like all of the Elders in the room. However, there were several features of him that made him stand out. For one thing, the hem of his sleeves was pointed rather than round and rich embroiders of blue and gold decorated the rims. The same embroider design was sew around his collar as well. The only other decoration on his attire was a tiny little mirror hanging just below his collar, its surface a bit dull and not as smooth as one would have thought. Unlike his mirror, his eyes were bright and blue. Upon a closer inspection, one would be able to see that they are deep and serious. The most striking thing about him was the color of his hair. Unlike Yan Lin and most of the Elder wise men with their white hair, the man's was blond.

The man paused and gave everyone in the hall a quick scrutinized glance. At last, his gaze fell upon Yan Lin and slowly made his way towards the pedestal. The silence was soon followed by quick exchanges of hush voices and whispers.

"Is that…?"

"It is! It's him!"

"It's the Dream Seer, Lord Araël."

"Excuse me," Elyon interrupted the Elder sitting next to her. "But who is this Lord Araël?"

The Elder gave her a patient look before he leaned in to tell her quietly. "Lord Araël is the Dream Seer and also the current leader of the Gemini Council. It's a separate branch of power in Kandrakar."

Elyon's eyes widen in shock. "Kandrakar has another political branch?" she questioned.

The Elder nodded. "Although it's a smaller branch than the Congregation, it's still just as powerful."

"What is its purpose to the Fortress and the universe?" Caleb asked.

"This Congregation and its five Guardians were created to protect the Balance and Peace of the universe," said the Elder. "The Gemini Council, however, was created to maintain the Balance between Light and Darkness which exists in all things of the universe."

"But why is Lord Araël here, then?" asked Elyon. "Could it have something to do with this new threat?" Although the question came out, deep in her heart Elyon was afraid of the answer as she saw how grim the Elder's expression was.

The Elder next to her nodded gravely. "The members of the Gemini Council tend to keep to themselves," he said. "No one in the Congregation has ever seen a member stepped out of its hall for millenniums, let alone its leader."

"I heard that the last time Lord Araël made his appearance to the previous Oracle was centuries ago," said an Elder woman sitting behind Caleb grimly.

Caleb turned around to face her and asked, "Why?"

She gave him a grim look. "To warn the Oracle because he had a vision in his dream."

"Yes, he came to inform the Oracle that the Balance of Light and Darkness on Your Majesty's world was about to shift," the Elder next to Elyon commented. Elyon's heart suddenly jumped and her skin crawled with fear of a brother she once knew and pitied. The Elder saw her reaction and nodded. "And he was right. I believe you know the main reason behind this threat which he spoke of."

"Yes, I do," Elyon replied. "It was Phobos's Darkness that overbalanced my mother's Light." Elyon turned her attention back to the mysterious newcomer. The way he looked gave her a bit of a chill. She gasped quietly when she realized that this man resembled another. _He looks like Cedric!_ She thought with a panic. But then Elyon realized that it wasn't possible. Cedric was dead. Last she heard he was killed inside a book that he was trapped in. Elyon quietly scrutinized him. True, from this angle, Lord Araël does resemble Cedric in some ways. But upon a closer look, his face was different and his blond hair was brighter than Cedric's could ever be.

Lord Araël stopped as soon as he approached the Oracle. The entire room was silent, its audience anxiously watching. For a few seconds, there was nothing as the two leaders continued to stand where they are. Suddenly, Lord Araël bowed respectfully to Yan Lin and began to speak.

"Honorable Yan Lin," he greeted, his voice echoing throughout the room. "I did not expect to see you standing where Himerish once stood."

"Much has changed since the last time you ventured out of your hall, Lord Araël," said Yan Lin, her face remained grim as she scrutinized him. "Unlike the rest of the Fortress, you haven't changed at all. From your magnificent entrance, I have no doubt that you are here to deliver grave news?"

Lord Araël didn't reply. "I believe you are aware of this new threat?" he asked.

Yan Lin nodded solemnly. "There is an evil threat and it's coming. From what we can feel from the wind and saw with Elyon's power we know it has something to do with the Darkness and how it's affecting the Light. But we don't know specifically what kind of threat this is and where it is coming from."

"The Queen of Metamoor is not the only one," said Lord Araël.

Yan Lin's eyes widen. "What do you mean, Araël?"

"Many protectors and warriors of their respected worlds across our universe are losing their magic," said Araël. "The change is minimal for now, but soon they will be completely defenseless without the Light. Without these guardians and protectors, the Darkness will have no obstacles in taking over their world."

Yan Lin realized what he was implying. She was too afraid to think, but asked anyway. "Then…you don't think…"

The Dream Seer nodded gravely. "I'm afraid the Guardians will soon find their magic weakened as well."

"But how is this possible? Surely the power of Darkness cannot effect all five Guardians' powers?" she demanded.

Lord Araël didn't answer her question right away. He was considering the possibilities of the outcome that he had seen in his countless dreams, and no matter which one he choose to go with he knew that they all led to the same thing. After another quick silence, he turned around and gestured Yan Lin to follow him. "Come with me, Oracle," he said simply. "There is something you must see with your own eyes."

Yan Lin turned to Endarno and Tibor. "Take care of the rest from here. I trust that you'll be able to handle it," she said.

The entire room watched Yan Lin and Lord Araël disappearing out of the room quietly before bursting into a sea of chaotic shouting again.

* * *

It had been many years since Yan Lin had last set foot in the many halls of the Gemini Council. The last time she was here was when she was on a mission as the previous Guardian of Air. Like the rest of Kandrakar, the Gemini Council's halls were pure white. The only difference is that its walls and ceilings were not as decorative with hieroglyphs and relief sculptures as the ones that she was used to. As she continued her pace, Lord Araël addressed her without looking over his shoulder.

"Do you remember the last time you strolled down these halls of ours, Oracle?" he asked stoically.

Yan Lin couldn't help but smiled to herself. "Of course," she replied. "How could I forget the day when Cassidy accidentally mistook you for Lord Cedric?" Yan Lin laughed as she thought back to that specific moment. "Do you still have that scar she gave you?"

"Lady Freyja took care of the rest," Lord Araël replied. "The Nordic Angel is our most valuable healer."

They stopped in front of a pair of double-doors. Yan Lin had expected to meet the other Gemini Council members sitting on their tall thrones, but when Lord Araël opened the giant doors, Yan Lin realized that it was a hall which she had never entered before.

The hall was spacious and it was mostly empty. The only thing in it was a giant scale. It stood tall with its magnificent simple figure and Yan Lin marveled at it. Behind it was another door, barely visible to the eyes. Once Yan Lin stepped into the hall, she suddenly felt something terribly wrong in the air again.

"I see that you've sensed it as well," said Lord Araël. He strolled across the hall and stopped right before the giant scale, looking up at it sadly. "But it is worse when you can see it. Tell me, Oracle," he paused without looking at her. "What do you see before you?"

Yan Lin looked up and gasped. "The Balance of the Scale has been severely tipped!" She turned to the Dream Seer with an alarmed look. "How did it become so out of control to the point that it's being tipped to the Dark side?" She asked.

The Dream Seer shook his head. "This Darkness cannot grow spontaneously on its own. It must feed on something in order to grow."

"What can the Guardians do?" Yan Lin asked.

Lord Araël waved his hand and a magical holographic interface screen of Earth appeared before them. It zoomed into a specific city called Heatherfield, showing the people going on about with their lives. Then the image zoomed in closer to a park where a group of children and their parents gathering around a pink bus. Upon a closer inspection, Yan Lin could tell that her granddaughter and her friends are holding a special ceremony. Their magical students are graduating.

"As I've said before, the Guardians, too, shall find their powers weaken," said Lord Araël. He paused, noticing something in the corner of the interface. It was a swirling vortex of air and while not strong nor visible at the moment, it could not escape the powerful scan of Araël's screen. "It has appeared that the Guardians will find this fact out the hard way and much sooner than they think."

The Dream Seer spread his arms open and the interface followed his command by opening several communication tabs on its screen. Yan Lin saw eleven more faces and assumed that they were the other main members of the Gemini Council.

"Do you have any news from the Guardians yet, Lady Verlona?" he asked, speaking to an elf-liked woman with short brown hair and green eyes.

"None, my Lord," Lady Verlona replied. "They are not replying to our calls."

"It appears that we are having trouble with our communication system at the moment, Araël," said the man whose screen was positioned under Verlona's. "It is either that or they are purposely ignoring our calls."

"We'll need to send them a more physical message," said a woman with dark hair.

At this moment, Yan Lin realized what she should do. She must summon the Guardians here and now, but not without helping them first. Holding out a palm, the Oracle realized a familiar object. It illuminated the entire room even further with its brilliant glow and warmth. Lo and behold: The Heart of Kandrakar.

It had been a while since it was last summoned. Ever since the five Guardians received their new powers, there was no need for it to aid its Keeper, Will Vandom, and her friends until now…

Lord Araël noticed its presence and turned his head around to face the Oracle. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I must do something, Dream Seer," Yan Lin replied with concerns in her voice. "I must help my granddaughter and her friends. If the Darkness is truly weakening their powers, then I must do what I can to assist them."

The Dream Seer nodded. Suddenly, a bleep on the interface stole back his attention. The screen opened another map of several nations that were unrecognizable to Yan Lin's eyes. It shouldn't because it's not of Earth, Metamoor, or any other worlds she knew off. Most likely it was a planet out of her realm's jurisdiction. Lord Araël understood why and lowered his head. "Summon them here," he said. "There is something they must see."

Yan Lin nodded and whispered gentled words to the magical talisman in her hand. "Go now," she said. "Protect my little Hay Lin and her friends and summon them here."

The Heart of Kandrakar shined brightly in response and disappeared.

* * *

It was just an ordinary day in Heatherfield. The children are excited as they chatted with their families and friends while at the same time showing off their magical powers. Just a few minutes ago, these children had just graduated after one year of attending private magic lessons in a flying pink bus with five special girls. After all they've been through together, the five Guardians could not believe it.

It was, Will Vandom decided, an incredibly unforgettable day in Heatherfield.

"I can't believe it's been nearly a year already," said Cornelia Hale. Will grinned at her blond friend's comment. Apparently, she wasn't the only one who thought so.

"Believe it, Corny," said Irma Lair. "We might as well accept that this was bound to end sooner or later."

Will nodded. "Yeah, we knew that this day was going to come." She gazed at a group of kids showing off their powers at the corner of her eyes. "We've taught them enough what they needed to know about using their magic and controlling it. The rest is up to them to experience and learn on their own."

Irma smiled and shrugged. "I'm gonna miss teaching these kids—"

A kid zapped his friend with a little bit of electricity, causing her hair to fizz and stand up.

"Okay, I'm gonna missed teaching _some_ of them," Irma corrected herself. The others laughed. "Come on. Let's go get Hay Lin and Taranee before the buffet is all gone!"

When they reached Hay Lin and Taranee, they sensed something was wrong when they saw Taranee trying to reassure her friend.

"I'm telling you! There's something going on and I don't like it, Taranee!" said Hay Lin.

"Calm down Hay Lin," said Taranee. "I'm sure it'll pass. After all, saying good-bye to your students can't be easy, I know."

"It's not that at all!" Hay Lin insisted.

"Hey, what's going on, you two?" Will asked, coming over.

"Will!" Hay Lin cried. "Will, there's something wrong in the _air_! Can't you feel it, too?"

"What do you mean?" Cornelia asked.

"I meant there's something terrible is going to happen and I don't like it!" Hay Lin insisted. "It's making me feel weird."

The other girls looked at each other and tried to concentrate, honing their magic in order to feel the same trouble that Hay Lin was feeling. After a while, Will stopped and looked up at her friend.

"I think you're right, Hay Lin," she said with concern. "I feel a little bit strange, too. But I can't tell what or why."

"Do you think it has something to do with our attachments to the students?" Irma asked, looking over her shoulders to see her students playing and eating.

"No, this is something entirely different. I'm sure of it," Hay Lin replied firmly. She wrapped her arms around each other as if trying to warm herself from the cold feeling. "Trust me, girls. It's not the attachment. It's something darker and more sinister. It's something evil."

At that moment, one of the children spotted something in the sky. Curiously, he ran to Will and tugged on her skirt.

"Miss Will?"

Will bent down to give him her attention.

"Yes, what is it?" she asked.

The little boy pointed towards the sky. "What's that swirly thing up there?"

This little question definitely got the girls' attentions and they all looked up to see something like an aurora borealis. But rather than the usual curtain shapes throughout the sky, it was swirling and spinning slowly…almost like a…portal!

"That doesn't look good," cried Taranee.

"We have to go!" Hay Lin pointed out, certain that her feelings was right dead on.

"Now wait a minute!" Irma stopped her. "Just because there's a portal in the sky it doesn't mean we have to think that evil is here." Hay Lin gave her an annoyed look. Irma decided to explain, "Look, this is just a minor setback. It's just something hanging up in the sky and from the looks of things only _magical _people like us can see it." It was true. The parents of the magical students could not understand or see what their children were referring to as they pointed at the swirling colorful portal in the sky. "All we have to do is close it like we did during our first mission and then we'll be good as new."

Before the other four girls could agree, the children cried as something shot out of the swirling portal. Everyone with magical powers watched as it came crashing down on a van across the street of the park. The crowd closest to the car screamed as the impact left a small crater and the van crushed.

"What was that?" Cornelia demanded to know.

Once the smoke cleared, a huge and bulky creature climbed out of the crater and roared to the heavens. While the sound was deafening and bone-chilling, the Guardians noticed that the non-magical people weren't affected. Like the portal in the sky, they cannot see or hear the creature. The monster turned to face the crowd and the next thing the Guardians knew, it let out a breath and a dark blue smoke came out of its mouth. Once the people on the streets breathed in the blue vapor that they could not see, they slumped down as sleep overtook them.

Smiling savagely, the creature chuckled and was about to grab one of its sleeping victims when Hay Lin screamed.

"NO! Leave them alone!"

The creature heard her and turned. It came closer and once it did, the Guardians and their students could see that it was hideous. Its body was somewhat humanoid yet demonic and covered in a coat of black hair while its head was that of an ox with glistening horns. Raising up an arm, the ox demon shot a blast of energy at them. The energy missed and hit a tree, vaporizing it into ashes. The children and their parents screamed.

"Um, yeah I'm pretty sure you got its attention, Hay Lin," Irma noted.

"Kandor, get the kids and their parents to a safe place!" Will ordered.

Kandor, the assigned caretaker from Kandrakar nodded. "Right," he said. "Everyone into the bus, quickly!"

No one needed to be told twice as parents grabbed their youngest children and dashed for the magical pink bus while the older children stayed behind to make sure everyone got on safely before getting into the vehicle themselves. Once the _Teach 2b W.I.T.C.H._ bus was safely out of sight, the five Guardians positioned themselves into defensive stances.

"C'mon, girls! It's time to teach this ox a lesson," Will said, cracking her knuckles.

"Yeah, a lesson in magic, W.I.T.C.H. style!" Irma agreed.

Five flashes of light illuminated before the ox demon's eyes as waves of magical energy and elements enveloped the girls. Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin could feel their ordinary street clothes disappearing as their bare bodies transformed into mature women. Their old clothes were then replaced by outfits of green and purple tops and bottoms with striped stockings and boots. Although each of the girls' designs were different, they all began to sprout identical gossamer wings: huge transparent green, blue, and beautiful.

For Irma, the water globe around her evaporated as she declared her magical element, "Water!"

"Fire!" Tranee said as the sphere of fire extinguished itself.

A cage of branches and leaves around Cornelia shriveled back. "Earth!" Cornelia stated.

A ball of swirling wind and air subsided. "Air!" shouted Hay Lin.

"And Energy!" Will grinned mischievously as her sphere of pink energy and electrical charges disappeared.

"And now, you have some explaining to do, you beast," Irma boasted as she and her four friends floated above the ox demon's head. But the creature chuckled and roared at them, covering her in saliva. "Urgh!" Irma grimaced in disgust. "Hasn't anyone ever told you to cover your mouth?"

"I guess he's not the talking type!" Will smirked. Flying in behind the ox demon, she shot a beam of pink energy at him. To her surprise, the blast was smaller than she had intended and it bounced off the creature like rubber.

"Let's try this again," Hay Lin cried. She conjured up a blast of whirling air at the creature, but like Will's power, Hay Lin's magic wasn't affecting the monster by much. If anything else, it only tickled it.

"Hay Lin, you're supposed to be lifting it off the ground and slamming it into something! Not give it a free blow-dry for its hair!" Cornelia snapped. Holding up what appeared to be a pink stick with a long strand of ribbon, Cornelia used it to uproot several boulders at her feet and fired it at the ox demon with another swing. "What the?" Cornelia gapped when she noticed how small the stones were. Rather than going overboard with a giant boulder the size of a house, the ribbons only pulled up five rocks half Cornelia's size. And to add insult to injury, the monster chortled as he punched each stones thrown at him to dust.

"Big talk, Corny," Irma retorted.

"It's not my fault!" Cornelia yelled, ducking a swinging blow from ox demon. "There's something wrong with my power!" She tried to fire a volley of granite shards at the monster to make her point. Sure enough, they didn't graze the beast.

"Once again you need my help," Irma smirked to herself as Will and Taranee flew in to pull Cornelia out of the ox demon's way. Turning to Hay Lin, she said, "C'mon, Hay Hey. Let's show the girls how to take this overgrown cow down!"

The Guardian of Air nodded and combined her air power with Irma's water magic to create a blizzard-storm-sphere. Together, both the Guardians of Water and Air blasted it with all of their might at the charging ox demon. A sudden explosion came when both the monster and the sphere of swirling ice and wind collided and the girls were blasted back by a small shockwave.

"Did you two really have to go overboard?" Cornelia coughed as the cloud of ice, dirt, and smoke covered the area.

"Hey, at least that thing's gone," Irma said.

"Yeah, and practically half of this side of the park," Cornelia rolled her eyes.

"Where did that thing came from?" Hay Lin asked.

"I don't know," said Taranee. "But I think we should—"

But before she could finish, Will pointed behind Cornelia and cried, "CORNELIA, BEHIND YOU!"

Cornelia turned around and saw a dark shadow in the smoke screen looming tall over her. Before she could summon the tree's roots to her defense, a hairy arm came out and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her off the ground. Hay Lin gasped and blew back the smoke screen for all to see the surviving ox demon roaring fiercely.

"Let her go, now!" Taranee screamed. She threw a fire ball, knocking the beast slightly, but at least she got it to release its hold on Cornelia.

"Cornelia! Are you alright?" Irma asked. Cornelia coughed in response. "I'll take that as a maybe, then!"

"W.I.T.C.H., we'll have to unite our attacks," Will ordered.

Unfortunately, nothing seemed to work for the Guardians. Whether they were taking turns blasting the monster with their individual powers or threw it with a mixed combo, the ox demon continued to stand on its legs. To their surprise, the beast was fast as it was powerful. One moment it was in front of Hay Lin, the next it grabbed her by her waist with one arm and slammed her against Taranee and Irma like a ragged-doll. Cornelia tried to blast it back further but it blocked her attack with one raised hand and then slapped her with the other, forcing her to fly backwards.

Will tried to sneak up behind it by grabbing the beast by its horn, but the ox demon roared with annoyance and made a grab for her hair. Yelping in pain, Will immediate released the beast due the strain on her locks, allowing the ox demon to throw her to the ground. It was about to crush her ribs, but she managed to roll out of the way in time. When Will looked up, she saw crushed park pavement where she was before. Without thinking, Hay Lin flew in and pulled her away before the beast decided to go after Will again. Unfortunately, the ox demon managed to grab a hold of Hay Lin's wings and yanked her back, forcing Will to fly out of her arms before being thrown brutishly into a water fountain. The other three came to her defense as the beast charged at them.

For the first time in months, Will began to harbor great concerns for the outcome of the battle as the monster continued to throw her friends off one after the other.

_What's going on?_ Will thought. _We can't fight like this! It's like we're working on weak batteries!_

"Will, what are we going to do?" Hay Lin asked desperately.

Will was about to answer but before she knew it, the ox demon was looming over her again and breathed out the dark blue mist. Luckily for her, Will didn't lose conscious immediately like the pedestrians on the streets thanks to her magical defense. However, it still had an effect on her as her mind began to feel heavy. Soon, her body felt lazy and all Will wanted to do was close her eyes and go to sleep.

"I can't…stay awake…" she gasped. Fighting her best to keep her eyes open, Will saw the beast grinning with savage delight. It was inevitable that she would succumb to the spell as her whole body slumped to the ground. Will felt paralyzed and helpless as she could feel the ox demon raising its fist and end her.

"WILL!" the other girls cried.

Before the beast's fist could make contact with Will, a sudden burst of light appeared, blasting it thirty feet away.

"What was that?" Irma asked, completely taken aback.

Whatever it was, it was still giving off a brilliant glow. Will didn't know how, but it felt familiar to her. It was like a warm beating essence that was once part of who she was. The little, shining object floated toward her outreach hands and Will couldn't help but felt relief.

The beast stirred. This time, Will knew what to do.

"Girls, time to unite our powers again!" she ordered.

The others gave each other skeptical looks but didn't object their leader's decision. After all, the strange glowing object saved their lives.

"Water!" Irma shouted. To her surprise, her column of water was slightly larger as she sent it into the glowing object.

"Fire!" cried Taranee.

"Earth!"

"Air!"

"And the power to unite them!" Will cried as she, too, sent out her power of Energy into the glowing object in her hands with the others'. Once she felt the converging magical burst building up to its max, she let it out and it flew straight for the ox demon.

The beast tried to whack the magical blast away but it was too fast. The combined spell hit the ox demon squarely in the chest where its heart was physically located. The creature wretched in pain as the light from the combined forces of the elements dug itself into its inner core and consumed him on the inside. The girls coiled back slightly as fumes of blue mist poured out of the beast mouth. The ox demon tried to hold itself together but it was sll in vain. It crumbled into dust and the blue mist began to evaporate into thin air. Yet its dark presence lingers.

The girls looked at Will and each other, and Will carefully clasped her hands tight, trapping the glowing object. Taranee went over to her to see if she was okay.

"How are you feeling?" Taranee asked.

"Relieved, actually," Will admitted.

"How did you know that was going to work?" Irma asked. "Especially when it didn't before?"

Will smiled and said, "Because I felt safe, as if an old friend has return. When all seems lost, I felt a glimmer of light that was a comfort to me. I knew it was protecting me…us!" she corrected herself.

The girls stared down at Will's closed hands with curiosity.

"So what saved us?" Cornelia asked.

"You mean you haven't figured it out yet?" Will smiled and opened her hand to show them. "I told you, it's an old friend who has returned."

A pink crystal sphere with curved metal frame singed its presence with light again, bathing the five Guardians with its gentle glow.

"The Heart of Kandrakar is back," said Will. "C'mon, let's close that portal."

At first, everyone was silent. Just as Will flew closer to the swirling port in the sky, the shock started to settle. Irma was the first to react.

"How can there be a portal?" Irma demanded as she watched Will closing it with the Heart of Kandrakar. "I thought they all vanished when Himerish lifted the Veil."

"You don't suppose Elyon's in trouble again, do you?" Cornelia asked with concern.

"I don't think that was a Portal to Metamoor, girls," Hay Lin answered when Will landed. She and the others gave her a confused look.

"What do you mean by that, Hay Lin?" Taranee asked as she massaged the bruise on her shoulders with a magically heated hand.

"All the creatures from Metamoor are lizard-liked and their lifestyles are similar to our version of Medieval Europe, remember?" Hay Lin tried to explain calmly. "But that ox-creature was just like one of those demons I've read from Asian folklore."

"Now that you've mentioned it, the portal in the sky didn't look like one of the Twelve Portals we've sealed up in the past," Taranee pointed out. "It looked as if it was made from the aurora borealis."

"You mean those colorful Northern Lights?" Irma questioned. Taranee nodded.

"So this one is probably a portal leading to a different world," Will stated. "The question is where?"

"That's not the only question," Taranee pointed out. "What's wrong with our powers? They're weaker and we don't know why."

"You're right, Taranee," Will nodded. "The only reason we won against that beast was because the Heart of Kandrakar came to our rescue."

Suddenly, the Heart of Kandrakar illuminated another wave of light. It was quickly apparent that they're being summoned.

"I don't know about you girls, but I want some answers and Kandrakar better have them or else," Will frowned, clenching her free hand. The others nodded.

"You said it, Will," Irma agreed. "After all we've been through today, they don't know what's coming from us."

"Take us to Kandrakar," Will said, curling her fingers around the magic pendent before it began to teleported them through dimensional space.

_**To be continued…**_

_**Author's note: Originally, the plotting of this story started back in 2007 and wasn't finished until 2010. Additionally, the writing of this chapter started over a year ago and wasn't completed until now due to intense university studies and work schedule.**_

_**This story takes place sometime after the Guardians defeated the White Queen from the Teach 2b W.I.T.C.H. comic saga. If you read the original comic series, you'll know why Will doesn't have the Heart of Kandrakar during the fight with the ox demon since she and her friends received their New Powers. It returned to Yan Lin after she became the new Oracle of Kandrakar because Will no longer needed it to transform or get them out of sticky situation…until now. As for Elyon, Caleb, and some of the other characters…well, they and the Heart of Kandrakar are not the only characters/object that I've planned to bring back into this series.**_

_**I was getting sick of the Guardians' magical school bus as it pretty much did NOTHING important but just sit there and exist in the original comic series. It didn't even play any role in the defeat of the White Queen, the Runics, Nihila, etc. It's a liability so I'm getting rid of it by having the magical students finally graduating!**_

_**The ox demon is an Ushi-oni, an ox-headed monster that appears in Japanese folklore.**_


	2. The New Guardians pt II

**W.****I.****T.****C.****H.****D****r****e****a****m****s**** o****f****L****u****s****t****e****r****i****a**

**By Galistar07water**

_**Disclaimer: W.I.T.C.H. is owned and copyrighted by the Walt Disney Company Italia and is in no way affiliated with the fictional works of Galistar07water.**_

_**Author's note: If you would like to see drawings of W.I.T.C.H. Dreams of Lusteria, please visit my page and click the "W.I.T.C.H. Dreams of Lusteria" folder in the gallery section.**_

_**Author's 2**__**nd**__** note: The first part of this chapter has been revised at the end. Please re-read it before you read part II.**_

**_Chapter 01: The New Guardians pt. II_**

Unfortunately for the five Guardians, the day wasn't over yet. Without another word, everything around the Guardians turned a blinding white as they zipped through space in a matter of seconds. It has been a while since they've used the Heart of Kandrakar to get to the Fortress of Light. Ever since they received their new powers, they were able to travel between Kandrakar and Heatherfield on their own. Like always, they were expecting to arrive in a familiar heavenly garden where Oracle Yan Lin would greet them in her familiar light green robe.

Imagined their surprised when they arrived in the center of an unfamiliar, huge, and white room being surrounded by tall square-shaped columns. Once the luminous light of the Heart died down, the Guardians saw that these weren't columns. Rather, they were thrones. They were not built at the same level. Some were taller or shorter than the others and each were occupied by a man or a woman in light green robes with embroiders designs on the hems of their sleeves and colors. Taranee noticed that these people looked…young. Instead of the usual silver locks from old age like the other Elders of Kandrakar, these people still have some pigments in their hair. Irma did a quick head count and founded eleven pairs of eyes staring down at them.

"Um…Will?" Irma spoke up, not realizing that her quiet whisper was bouncing off the round walls, enabling everyone to hear her clearly. "I thought you said that you'll take us to Kandrakar, not the inside of my brother's video game!"

Feeling eleven pairs of condescending eyes scrutinizing them, Will instinctively kicked Irma to silence her. Irma gasped and swallowed her swearing. Cornelia and the others gave her a warning look to not say anything further.

"I assure you, Irma," said a familiar voice. "This is no game."

The Guardians instantly tried to look for the source of Yan Lin's voice, but she wasn't one of the twelve members on the thrones. Hay Lin was the first to spot her coming from a huge space between two thrones. Accompanying her was a young, blonde man, but she only had eyes on the elderly woman who gave Hay Lin and her friends so much guidance.

"Grandma!" Hay Lin cried, flinging herself into her grandmother's embracing arms.

After the girls exchanged a quick greeting, Will decided to get straight to the point. She and the others each took turn telling what happened to them in the park.

"Luckily, we've sent Kandor away with the kids," said Taranee. "If they had stayed, things would have probably turned out worse."

"The kids!" Cornelia realized. "Where are they right now?"

"Relax, Cornelia," Yan Lin reassured her gently. "Kandor contacted me a while ago. Your magical students and their families are safe and sound."

The Guardians breathed a sigh of relief. It was then that the blonde man spoke.

"While your concern for your magical pupils is touching, I believe we have more important matters to discuss."

At the sound of his voice, only then did the Guardians turned their full attention on him. They all gasped and readied themselves in defensive positions.

"Cedric! What are _you_ doing here?!" Will demanded. "You're _**dead**_!"

"Yeah, we saw you died in Ludmoore's book!" Irma demanded.

"Explain, or else!" Cornelia threatened.

"Grandma, get away from him!" Hay Lin warned.

"Girls, please!" Yan Lin insisted. "Show some respect. This is _not_ Lord Cedric."

The girls seemed unconvinced at first, but upon a closer inspection, they realized that the Oracle was right. This man was not who they thought he was.

"If he's not that two-timing snake Cedric, then why does he look like him?" Irma demanded.

"Would you rather I'd look like this?" said the flaxen haired man as the tiny mirror on his robe glowed. The next thing they knew, the man now has short, brown hair with glasses over an elongated face. It was none other than the dreaded face of their math teacher…

"Ah! It's Horse-Face Horseberg!" Irma gulped nervously.

"So, does this look now suit you?" Mr. Horseberg demanded with a mischievous glimmer in his eyes. "Or should I assign you all some extra homework on the quadratic equation?"

"_**NO!"**_ All five girls screamed in a panic for it felt as if the real Mr. Horseberg was reprimanding them for passing notes during his lecture.

"_**NO! THE FIRST LOOK WORKS FOR YOU!"**_ Irma insisted.

Mr. Horseberg smiled as the eleven men and women on their thrones laughed at the situation. Even Yan Lin couldn't help but smiled to herself, despite the coming threat of the Darkness at their doorsteps.

"Oh, stop it, Lord Araël, you're scaring them," said Yan Lin.

The Dream Seer smirked and reverted back to his original appearance.

"Lord Araël?" Will asked.

"Girls, I've asked the Heart of Kandrakar to bring you here after saving you from the _ushi-oni_," Yan Lin explained simply. She spread her arms wide to indicate the entire circular hall and said, "Welcome to Halls of the Gemini Council. It is a separate branch of power here in Kandrakar, governed by its twelve members. And this is Lord Araël, the Dream Seer and the current leader of this council."

"Kandrakar has a separate political branch?" Taranee questioned, clearly annoyed that Kandrakar have decided to hide something from them again. "Why weren't we told of this before?!"

"There was no need for you to know of our existence then," said one of the women sitting on the tall thrones.

"Our business is of no concern for you," said a man to her right.

"Until now…" Lord Araël reminded them darkly.

"What do you mean?" Cornelia asked. "Does it have something to do with that portal in the sky?"

"Or why our powers are weaker?" Taranee asked.

"Or why I'm feeling all of this dark vibe in the air?" Hay Lin demanded.

Yan Lin looked down for a moment sorrowfully before answering, "I'm afraid it has to do with _everything_, girls. Lord Araël has something to show you."

The Dream Seer nodded and held out one palm of his hand face-up towards the central ceiling (if the circular really does have one as it seems to go on forever). The next thing they knew, a holographic three dimensional image of the giant scale from the other hall appeared. The Guardians saw one side contained a white sphere, illuminating a weak glow of light while the other contained a black sphere with a powerful shadow mist suffocating it.

"This scale shows us the Balance between Light and Darkness which exists in all things of the universe," Yan Lin explained. "It is the Gemini Council's duty to ensure that no side outweighs the other to the point of chaos. As you Guardians can see, this new threat of Darkness somehow got stronger, outweighing the Light. This would explain why your magic is weaker during your battle against the _ushi-oni_ earlier."

"The what again?" Irma asked in confusion.

"You mean that ox-demon, Grandma?" Hay Lin asked. Yan Lin nodded.

"Unfortunately, your powers are not the only ones affected," Yan Lin continued solemnly. "Elyon's powers have also been weakened. Any planet with a magical leader, guardians, and warriors will notice the change sooner or later."

Suddenly, Will realized something horrible. "Wait! Does this mean that anyone with _dark_ magical powers won't be affected?" Will interrupted.

"Worse, like the _ushi-oni_ you've fought today, their powers will increase tenfold from the look of this scale while yours, as well as mine, will continue to diminished," Yan Lin replied gravely.

"Wait! What about the Heart of Kandrakar?" Cornelia noted. "When you sent it to us, our powers became stronger as they once were and we were able to defeat that beast!"

"The Heart of Kandrakar is a mystical and powerful object," Yan Lin replied. "Its source of power came from the Four Dragons and the Nymph Xin Jing. Because she was one of the Five Great Nymphs who created Kandrakar themselves, any remnants of her power is strong enough to withstand this growing Darkness. As such, the Heart contains her essence as well as the Four Dragons; it was able to increase your weakened magic when you needed it most."

The girls looked at each other with a small amount of relief.

"Don't be too quick to celebrate, Guardians," Lord Araël warned. "Soon, nothing will be able to withstand the might of the growing Darkness at this rate, not even the Heart of Kandrakar. You'll have to find a way to double its power."

"Alright, we get it," Irma groaned. "Because of this new growing threat that's overbalancing the Light, our powers over light and good are growing weaker while the bad guys' will grow stronger."

"The question is what is causing all of this and where is it coming from?" Will asked.

Lord Araël turned to face the second tallest throne positioned next to his empty seat. "Lady Verlona, would you care to show Yan Lin's Guardians of your discovery?"

Will had expected to see the woman jumping off of her throne at first, but instead, she magically appeared by the Dream Seer's side in a blink of an eye. Like everyone else in this room, Verlona's hair wasn't silver and her face bore no lines from age like Yan Lin. Rather, she had short brunette locks with green alien eyes and pointy ears like an elf. One of them was pierced and had a dangling earring in the shape of a crescent moon and a cloud. With one hand, she swiftly manifested a staff with what appeared to be astrological mechanism at one end. Some of the Guardians wondered how she could have held that heavy thing, but from the looks of it, it must be as light as a feather, regardless of its appearance.

"This is Lady Verlona, the Luna Masquerade and my second-in-command," Lord Araël declared.

Lady Verlona said nothing as she held out her astrological staff. The mechanism began to spin and click as a burst of tiny lights emitted from it. Instantly, the room darkened and the Guardians gasped for they were now floating in space. For one second, the Guardians suddenly remember what it felt like when they were inside of Eric Lyndon's grandfather's planetarium. Instead of plastic planet models being suspended on strings, they were surrounded by magical holographic models.

"Wait, that's Earth right there, isn't it?" Taranee cried, pointing to a familiar image of the little blue and green planet.

Taranee didn't have time to touch it when the entire universe began to move. The Guardians watched in amazement as stars and planets few past them. When a giant planet passed through Cornelia, the holographic model of it burst into tiny, glittering sparkles before reassembling themselves back into the shape of a planet again. Finally the space stopped moving around them as they approach a planet.

"This is Lusteria, one of the few major planets under the Gemini Council's constant watch," Lady Verlona stated. She relaxed her staff and held up her free hand. Like a computer, the holographic planet zoomed and several holographic interface screens appeared, revealing some of the planet's faunas and floras.

"Wow, fancy," Irma whistled impressively. Learning over to Cornelia, she whispered, "Seriously, why can't the rest of Kandrakar's bigwigs get into all of this fancy high-tech magic?"

Cornelia shot her cold glare. "Will you shut up and pay attention?" she whispered back. If Verlona or Araël had heard them, they didn't show it.

"While trying to contact our some of our liaisons about our current predicament, we've discovered the main source of this growing Darkness is coming from somewhere on Lusteria," said the Luna Masquerade. "It appears that some negative forces are fueling the Darkness. Someone or something is pulling the string." Looking up at one of the interfaces, she continued, "We've been trying to contact our..." she paused slightly, "…_representatives_ from Lusteria for days, but they never answered our summons. We fear the worse has happened to them."

"Let me guess, you want us to do your dirty work, is that right?" Irma accused, crossing her arms.

"Watch your tongue, Guardian of Water!" one of the men on the thrones warned her.

"It is alright, Lord Gaël," Lady Verlona said, holding up a hand to calm him and the other members down. Turning her attention back to the Guardians and answered, "Yes, we want you to investigate this problem."

Oracle Yan Lin stepped forward. "Girls, you must go to Lusteria and find out what is causing this Darkness to grow and find out what has happened to the missing Lusterian representatives. But be warned, Lusteria is a world unlike you've ever been to before. It is a world filled with demons and spirits."

"So while we're on Lusteria, we still won't know if we'll be attack by those monsters like that _ushi-oni_, Grandma?" Hay Lin asked, clearly afraid to relive the humiliating battle in the park.

Yan Lin didn't answer her. Instead, someone else did.

"You should know that to serve as a Guardian means to face the unknown, although sometime facing the familiar can be just as harrowing."

All five girls gasped and spun around to face the owner of the familiar voice. They stared in shock. Standing no more than ten feet away from them, clad in a red outfit with golden flame embroider, was their old warrior friend from Basilíade…

"Orube!" cried all five Guardians.

Everything inside Will screamed with joy as she tried to fight back the tears in her eyes. She hadn't expected to see their feline warrior friend in the halls of the Gemini Council of all places. Their last mission together did not result without a cost. Although they had saved Will's boyfriend, Matt Olsen, from the clutches of Ludmoore while in the world of his book, they had lost Cedric who sacrificed himself to save Orube's life. Devastated, Orube left the Guardians for Basilíade with Ludmoore's book, for it contained the remnants of Cedric as ink. Will and her friends haven't seen nor heard from her since until now.

Irma wanted to say something more. She wanted to say something snarky as her way of greeting an old friend but cursed herself when no words came out. _Dammit! Now I'm the one whose cat got her tongue!_ Irma thought.

"It seems you girls have gotten some upgrades with your powers since we parted ways," Orube said, noting their new Guardian outfits.

"We could say the same thing about you, Orube!" Cornelia laughed as she took in Orube's new red warrior outfit. "You look so different now."

"I feel different," Orube replied. "But my heart hasn't changed for you, my friends."

"What are you doing here? We all thought you went back to Basilíade," Hay Lin asked.

"I summoned her here," said Yan Lin with a gentle smile. "Traveling through Lusteria will be dangerous, even with the Heart of Kandrakar. Orube have been to Lusteria before and is familiar with its danger."

"So she can help us with our mission," Taranee noted.

"Yes! This is great!" Irma cheered. "A cat's sense can always come in handy in situations like this!"

"I'll take that as a compliment," Orube smirked. Turning to face Lady Verlona, Orube switched to formality and bowed. "Which Kingdom will you send us to?"

The Guardians gave each other quizzical looks. "Kingdom?" Irma whispered.

Lady Verlona waved her hand and the interface screens zoomed into a large Lusterian continent located in the far eastern hemisphere. A few dots appeared, but one was blinking close to a mountainous area.

"Our last scanners picked up a few rifts from the south. They were heading towards the Eastern Air Kingdom of Nihon where they suddenly dispersed a few moments ago," said Lady Verlona. "Our missing Lusterian representatives are natives to Nihon."

"You Guardians will start in that area where you will begin your search," Lord Araël ordered.

"Take the Heart of Kandrakar with you," advised Yan Lin. "It can help you find the source of the growing Darkness…if you ask of it."

All at once, the six of them nodded, and Will stepped forward.

"We are ready, Oracle," Will started confidently. "We will find the source of this Darkness and find your missing representatives."

Lord Araël nodded and held up one hand. The Guardians and Orube are enveloped in a column of light as he began to send them through space. "Then go," he said. "I wished you all a safe journey."

The column of light dissolved and then they were gone.

* * *

The mountainous region of the Eastern Air Kingdom of Nihon stood at a towering height, and was even more impressive up close in person. Upon seeing it, the Guardians stopped in their tracks with wide eyes as they took in the scenery in amazement. Based from its name, Hay Lin could only guess that Nihon was like Earth's version of Japan, but more…magical. Most parts of the mountains were taller than the eyes could see; their towering peaks passed the misty clouds. To their surprises, some parts of the mountains were floating in the air with waterfalls pouring into the rivers of the forested valley below! The Guardians have seen many beautiful worlds before, but the scene in front of them was truly breath-taking. It felt as if they were all in a dream.

Orube can't help but smiled. "Welcome to Lusteria, Guardians."

"It's beautiful," Cornelia voiced in wonders. "I've never seen such a natural beauty like this before."

"How could the approaching Darkness come from a world this stunning?" Taranee questioned.

"Do not judge everything by what you see here, Taranee," Orube warned. "Lusteria is not only magical, but it is one of the most spiritual planets in the universe. It is filled with some of the most dangerous and hostile spirits and demons imaginable, therefore the perfect place to train under the disciplinary arts. Nothing is as it seems here at times." The others nodded in agreement.

Irma turned to Will and voiced the question that was on everyone's mind: "So where to now, Will?"

Will materialized the Heart of and Kandrakar and mentally sent her thoughts into it, hoping that it will still remember the bond they both shared. _Please help us find the Dark source and the Gemini Council's missing representatives, _Will thought.

The Heart glowed brilliantly, illuminating the mountain they were standing on before sending a beam of light as a trail down into the valley. The girls' eyes followed it until it disappeared into what appeared to be a thick, dark forest located at the base of the mountain pass.

"The Azure Dragon Pass," Orube indicated solemnly. "It seems we must cross that forest down there first to follow the Heart's trail."

"Okay, great," Irma agreed. "Let's all fly down there and see if we can find whatever we need."

Orube gave her a confused look. "Fly? I thought you said only Hay Lin could fly."

"Oh, right," Irma palmed her forehead with a small laugh. "Yeah, ever since we got our new powers, we can all fly now, Orube."

"But wait a minute," Hay Lin interrupted. "What about Orube? She can't fly? How can she get down into that valley with us?"

"Simple," Cornelia said, holding a hand out as she commanded a pocket of earth beneath their feet to break away. All five Guardians spread their wings while Orube remained where she was, comfortably positioned on the floating boulder. "I can carry her," Cornelia winked and magically used her earth spell to levitate the boulder beside her with Orube on it.

As they travel downward, the Guardians began to tell Orube what has been happening to them since she left. In turn, she told them some of her adventures on Basilíade, but none as grand as theirs. After a while, Will and her friends became more curious and asked Orube about Lusteria. As a child training one day, her former master, Luba, have decided to take her to Lusteria to continue her training in order to become stronger. They had stayed with a family tribe who called themselves the Kinomoto clan. Orube explained how she trained with some of their members rigorously every day from mediation to learning how to go up against powerful demons and spirits of the land. Hay Lin asked her if she had made any friends, but Orube shook her head. The closest companions she met were a pair of fraternal twins who had trained alongside her during most of her time on their world. She hasn't seen nor heard from them since she left.

"Maybe you'll see them again while we're here," Hay Lin suggested.

"Girls, we're getting close," Will interrupted, holding out the Heart as it led them to the middle of the forest below. Unfortunately, the Heart led them to the dark side of the forest that was covered in black mist.

"Wow, nice place they got here," Irma said ironically.

Cornelia lowered the boulder to allow Orube to jump off. Immediately, Orube's sense kicked in as she instinctively grabbed her sword. "I don't like this at all. This is the Dark Forest Continent," Orube warned. Glancing at Will, she demanded, "Why have you brought us here of all places? This is the most dangerous forest region on the planet!"

"I'm sorry, but the Heart is pointing us in this direction," Will stated, holding out the Heart as it illuminated another tiny beam of light in front of them. "It's leading us this way," said Will. "We have to follow the Heart. It's the only way we'll find a clue to all of this mess."

"Yeah, and if anything happens, we have the Heart to help boost our powers," Irma added confidently. "No sweat."

Orube remained unconvinced, but did not object. "Very well, but I must warn you that this forest is full of negative energies. Some of Nihon's most dangerous and demonic spirits lurk behind every tree. Be on your guards."

They began to walk for several minutes in silence. True enough, the light from the sky above didn't even pierced through the dark mist, plunging the entire forest ground into an everlasting night. Hay Lin could hear the faint sounds of what appeared to be nocturnal animals…or something else. Taranee yelped a lot whenever she felt something brushed against her legs, causing Orube to constantly hush her. Cornelia could smell the fresh air and the fragrant flowers, but despite the pleasantry, it felt wrong somehow.

"I don't like this place one bit," Will admitted to herself. "It reeks of fear. But I think we're getting close to the Azure Dragon Pass."

"Good, my feet are sore," Cornelia complained. "Why can't Lord Araël send us to the mountain pass in the first place?"

"They didn't even know specifically where in Nihon the clues will be located and furthermore—" Orube stopped suddenly, hearing something. "Incoming!"

Hay Lin immediately pulled a wind current over them like a spinning dome of air as tiny swords and fire came down on them from the trees. Sparks danced around them as Hay Lin's air current dome deflected the attacks.

"Feather Daggers!"

In a split-second, a volley of black feathers rained down on them. Surprisingly they were sharp as knives. Once they mixed in with Hay Lin's shield, they swirled around with the current and slipped through by riding the air. Some of them scratched Hay Lin and her friends. Hay Lin winced and was forced to drop her shield, leaving them prone to another wave of attack.

"Feather Daggers!" cried the attacker again.

"Get behind me!" Taranee cried as she summoned a wall of fire. The flying feathered-daggers burned upon contact with the flame.

"Foolish humans," said a voice. Will thought she saw a quick movement to her left but it was too fast for her to see it clearly. "No one passes through my mountains!"

"You don't scare us," Irma spat, hurling her water pillars at the flashing movement in front of her. She missed. "Show yourself!"

"Foolish humans," the voice repeated, the threatening tone remained unchanged. "You know not what you're dealing with."

Will took her chance to fire several bolts of lightning and pink energy when she notice some movements coming behind her. She managed to hit their attacker. He stumbled a bit from the attack but spun around and landed on his feet. He spread his black wings and the Guardians could see that he was a crossed between a bird and a man with a very long beak-liked nose.

"A _tengu_!" Orube seethed.

"Impressive, human," said the demon. "But your little magic is still not as fast as my blades!"

He pounced at the Guardians with both swords in his claws. Will had never seen anyone so fast as she and her friends tried to jump out of the way. Taranee winced and saw that the _tengu_ managed to knick her at the arm. Cornelia seethed as a few strands of her hair were cut. Hay Lin yelped as she tried to dodge the _tengu's_ next swords swing by getting airborne. To her surprise, the _tengu_ disappeared and instantly reappeared behind her. Like an eagle, he grabbed her by the back with his clawed-feet and swung his sword for her head. Cornelia aimed at him the floating rock she was using to carry Orube earlier. The _tengu_ recoiled back instinctively and his blade sliced through the stone instead, sparing Hay Lin's neck. Sadly, he managed to shred her wings with his clawed-feet as she fell. Cornelia immediately summoned one of the trees to catch her. Shocked from the pain and her bleeding back, Hay Lin reverted back to her human form.

"Cornelia, take Hay Lin to safety!" Will ordered. "We'll handle this creep!"

While Cornelia carried Hay Lin away into a hollow tree for cover, the others unleashed a barrage of their attacks on the opponent. Irma tried to weaken the _tengu_ with her volley of ice shards before hurling a wave from a river nearby at him. With controlled aims, Taranee fired bullets of sparks and flames, followed by a breathing a fire dragon at him. To top it off, Will used the Heart to make all of their attacks more powerful and fired a lightning bolt at the _tengu_.

For a while, it seemed like they were winning. The _tengu_ was taking hard hits, and it encouraged the three Guardians to keep at it. But then, just as Irma was about to launch another wave of ice shards at him, it all changed. The _tengu_ swiftly leapt over their heads with great agility and speed when he anticipated their moves. As he fell back to the ground behind Irma, he swung his left leg beneath her and she fell. He dodged Taranee's fire balls, and swung one of his swords at Taranee. The Guardian of Fire saw how fast the blade was coming at her and was forced to stop her attack and dodged. With his remaining sword, the _tengu_ charged at Will and was about to bring his sword down on her head when he suddenly crossed-swords with Orube.

"Leave my friends alone, demon!" Orube warned, trying her hardest to push the _tengu_ back with her own blade.

Undaunted by her dangerous tone, the _tengu_ scoffed. "I am Karaten, the protector of the Azure Dragon Mountains! Those who trespass through my region shall suffer my wrath!"

"You're no protector!" Orube spat. "You judged us too quickly before decided whether or not we're a threat to your home!"

"Fools! What business do you have in my forest?" Karaten demanded. "Many humans have come to my mountains and claimed the same as you do. Lies! They do nothing but destroy the trees for their selfish reasons! You shall rue your words, young warrior! The toll to pass through my mountains is now death, should you not be able to give up your most treasured soul!"

"Soul?! What do you mean soul?" Will demanded.

"Don't listen to him, Will!" Orube warned, pushing Karaten's blade to one side and managed to disarm him. Before she could slice through him, the _tengu_ flew and landed on top of a tree, looking down on them condescendingly. Orube pointed her sword at him accusingly, "He wants the Heart, Will. No doubt he must have sensed its raw power when you used it to guide us here."

Karaten laughed maniacally and pulled out another sword from under his wings. Its blade was bathed in red mist similar to the _ushi-oni's _breath. He pointed its menacing glow at Orube and Will and they both readied themselves. To their surprise, Karaten swung it at Irma and Taranee instead who didn't see it coming. They didn't have time to dodge the red mist as the two of them accidentally inhaled a breath each.

"Irma! Taranee! Are you girls alright?" Will asked.

"Urgh, how can I be when I'm working with a useless hothead here?!" Irma demanded, pushing Taranee roughly to the ground as she tries to aim her next attack at Karaten. "Get out of my way, Taranee! You're a hindrance!"

"Hey! I'm a hindrance?! Speak for yourself, Irma!" Taranee snapped, firing a small fireball behind Irma's back and knocked her aside. "Your constant impatient is what's making us lose!"

"Ouch! I do not, you ungrateful egghead!" Irma winced and ordered streams of water tentacles to grab Taranee by the leg and dangle her up-side-down.

"Girls! What are you doing?" Will demanded, but Irma and Taranee continued to ignore her as they try to fight each other with a mixture of ice and fire attacks. Shooting a poisonous glare at Karaten, Will said, "What the hell did you do to my friends, you monster?!"

"Since you've refused to hand over your magical amulet, it is your comrades who would suffer my wrath," Karaten replied coldly as he landed in front of her without fear. "Last chance, human," he said, holding out his clawed hand. "If you wish to save your friends before they kill each other, hand over your magic pendent, if you please."

"And if we don't, please?!" Orube mocked him as she jumped and tried to land a blow.

"Hmph! Weak!" He grabbed her sword and with his strong momentum, Karaten threw Orube against a tree and pinned her down with her own sword against the fabric on her shoulder.

Furious, Will siphoned her anger into an attack and fired a lightning bolt at him. "Let her go, or else!"

To her surprise, the _tengu_ was unscathed from her attack. Instead, his sword absorbed her energy, its blade charged with electrical impulses.

"That's not possible!" Will gasped. _I put everything into that attack!_

"By refusing to commit to my demands, you shall suffer my wrath!" cried Karaten. He fired Will's attack back at her. When it made contact, Will could feel the rage she had put into it before being mixed with the wrath of the _tengu_.

"Will!" Cornelia cried from her hiding place as she cradled Hay Lin's head on her lap. "Will, get up!"

But Will couldn't move as her body bended over from the wrath-filled electrical pain pulsing throughout her entire body. Will recoiled and dropped the Heart. She tried to use its energy to help herself, but her frustration and anger at the demon prevented such help. She could feel Karaten getting closer and closer and he looked down on her with raging eyes. Once the attack dissolved, Will felt as if all of her energy was drained from her body and slumped back on her knees. She felt the _tengu_'s cold blade bush against the back of her neck.

"This is the end for you, human," Karaten gloated with satisfaction and brought the blade down on her neck. "Now I shall claim your head and your precious soul!"

Before his blade could make contact with Will's exposed neck, a burst of light flew forward and blinded him. At that moment, Will suddenly felt a little bit more energized. At first, Will thought it was the Heart finally protecting and rejuvenating her strength. To her surprise, the Heart remained on the grass in front of her. Before anyone could react, a beam of light from behind her blasted the _tengu _back, followed by what appeared to be glowing, white arrows as they pinned the demon down.

"What is this?!" Karaten demanded. His only response was a blinding glow of pure, white sphere bathing the black-misted forest in a warm embrace. "What is this hideous source of light?!"

Will looked down at the Heart and saw it glowing pink as if it were overjoyed to see an old friend again. The Heart's power, combined with the sphere of light's magic began to heal everyone's wounds. Cornelia gasped when Hay Lin opened her eyes and involuntary transformed. Irma and Taranee gasped in shock when they finally stopped attacking each other. Orube came over to Will's side with the _tengu_'s sword in one hand.

With confidence, Will nodded. "Converge now!" And like their battle against the _ushi-oni_, the five Guardians united their magic into one big sphere. Orube noticed Karaten trying his best to break free and quickly threw the two swords in her hands to hold him down. She turned her attention back to her friends and conjured up her purple _chi_ blast to combine it with the others.

"NO! I will not be defeated by humans!" Karaten cried as he tried to break free again.

The sphere embittered a stream of light from above them and extended it forward to pin him down like a giant hand. That was when Will gave the order to release their combined magic. When the attack hit Karaten, it dug itself into his inner core and consumed him on the inside.

"Everyone duck!" Will gave the order as the others braced for impact. Karaten gave one last futile cry as he coiled back, fumes of red mist poured out of his mouth before a small shockwave emitted from him as he exploded. All that remained was dust and Orube's sword. Like the ox-demon, there was a mist, but red, evaporating. Before anyone could say anything, the glowing sphere of light above them suddenly recoiled back its hand-liked structure before manifesting into a dome construct around Orube and the Guardians. They were trapped.

"What the hell is this?" Irma demanded as she banged her fists against the transparent wall. "First, this thing helped us, and now it's keeping us prisoners?!"

"Let us out!" Cornelia cried with frustration as she tried to use her earth power to break through the dome. The boulders only broke into smaller pieces upon impact.

A new voice spoke behind them.

"Hmph! If the six of you can't even handle a _tengu _like that in the first place, then you must all be more pathetic than I thought."

They turned around to see a figure in a black cloak with a hood. The glowing sphere prevented any one of them from seeing the newcomer's face but from the tone of her voice, they could tell it was a female. It seemed she was the one who trapped them.

"Who are you?" Orube glared. "Release us! You do not know who you're dealing with, Lusterian!"

The cloaked figure held up a palm of her hand and clenched it. To their horrors, the dome construct around them began to shrink, threatening to smother them.

"Wrong, strangers. You do not know who _you're_ dealing with! I'll be the one asking the questions here!" the newcomer informed. She gesture the dome to stop shrinking in order to continue her interrogation. "Now who are you and what are you doing here? Lie and I will not hesitate to hurt you."

"You're a Lusterian, aren't you?" Taranee asked cautiously. "We're looking for the Gemini Council's representatives of Lusteria who haven't answered their calls."

"You're talking to her," the newcomer informed darkly. Holding out her other hand, she manifested a light construct in the shape of a bow and arrow and aimed it at her prisoners. "I won't warn you again. Answer my questions, you _lily-livers_, and I won't have to hurt you!"

Orube gasped when she heard the keyword "lily-livers". Something about that word reminded her of something…or someone. There was only one person who would use that designation to insult people…but who?

"If you must know, we're W.I.T.C.H., also known as the Guardians of Kandrakar and—" Will said but then the newcomer shot her a venomous look and aimed her arrow at Will's heart.

"Liar!" she spat. "There are no other Guardians here on Lusteria!"

"But we're not from here!" Hay Lin tried to explain. "Look! If you really know about us Guardians, then you should recognize us by our attires and wings, right?"

The newcomer gave her a disdainful look. "Do you take me for a simpleton? For all I know, you nothing more than imposters and you're up to something. If you're the ones who are responsible for _his_ disappearance, I will kill you!"

"Hay Lin's telling the truth, you dope!" Irma insisted. "We were sent here from the Gemini Council to look for the representatives of Lusteria and whatever's causing the Darkness to grow throughout the universe."

"Likely story, lily-liver. I know who the Guardians are and they are not imposters like you weaklings who can't even handle a _tengu_," the newcomer spat venomously. She mentally released her hold on the dome and it shrank some more, leaving the six girls with no room to conjure up their own magical defense. "Since you've refused to tell me the truth, I have no choice but to consider you as a threat to my world. Sorry, I'm going to have to kill you now." It was obvious that she didn't sound sorry as she aimed her arrow. "_Sayonara_, lily-livers—"

Orube finally remembered that person's name and called out, "Kimi, wait!"

The newcomer stopped suddenly and stared at the warrior from Basilíade with shock. Will and her friends stared at Orube with confused looks, unsure of what just happened.

Ignoring the others, Orube cried, "Kimi, is that you?"

"How did you know my name?" said the newcomer, whose name appeared to be Kimi. "Are you a mind reader?"

Orube laughed and replied, "It's me, Orube! Don't you remember me?"

Kimi didn't react at first, but stepped closer cautiously for a good look. Her manifested bow and arrow light construct dissolved as she used her free hand to pull back her hood. The Guardians could see that the girl was quite pretty. She had blue, wavy hair and was yellow skin-colored like Hay Lin. But despite her complexion, the girl's piercing blue eyes were ice cold and anything but friendly.

"Orube-_nee-chan_?" Kimi said, "What are you doing here on Lusteria? And why are you accompanying these Guardians imposters?" Kimi shot the other five a daggered look.

Orube nodded as she continued her full attention on Kimi. "Like the others said, we were sent here by Oracle Yan Lin and the Gemini Council of Kandrakar," Orube explained patiently. "Kimi, if you're really one of Lord Araël's Lusterian representatives, you should know that the power of Darkness is growing and the Universe is in danger."

"I know that much!" Kimi frowned. "You think you're the only one whose powers have been weakened by it?!"

"Then why didn't you answer Lord Araël's summon?" Orube asked. "The Gemini Council thought something horrible has happened to you."

"Hmph! I can take care of myself, unlike your useless friends," Kimi replied rudely.

"Hey! Who are you calling useless?" Irma demanded, shooting the blue-haired girl a disdainful look. "Let me out and I'll show you who's useless!"

Ignoring Irma's empty threat, Kimi continued her conversation with Orube. "I have more important things to take care of than running another errand for those big shots on their high thrones."

Orube was glad to see someone familiar, but she was getting annoyed with Kimi's bad attitude. "While I would love to hear more about it, Kimi, but would you mind letting me and my friends out first?" Orube requested. "I promised you that Will and her friends aren't lying and they mean you no harm either."

"Yeah, right," Irma whispered under her breath. Cornelia kicked her in the shin.

"I trust you, Orube-nee-chan," Kimi replied, but glared at the Guardians. "I don't trust these lily-livers!"

"Kimi, I've known them for a while and they're telling the truth," Orube insisted. "Will and her friends are the five Guardians of Kandakar. I lived with them when I was stationed on Earth and have seen their capabilities; they have the hearts of true warriors."

"Look, Kimi," Will said, holding out the Heart of Kandrakar. "The Heart of Kandrakar should be enough proof to you of who we are."

Kimi stared at the Heart in Will's hand and noticed its warm glow. She looked up at her sphere of light which was holding the dome in place with disbelief, for both objects where generating glows in harmony with one another. She glanced back at the Guardians and studied them. With her piercing blue eyes scrutinizing them, Hay Lin felt naked and wished she would stop.

After a while, Kimi sighed with frustration and muttered to herself. "Those rotten bastards on their high thrones are going to have some explaining to do once I'm done with them." She snapped her fingers and the dome dissolved. The Guardians fell to their knees as they struggle to gasp for some fresh air. The sphere of light floated towards Kimi's outstretch palm and disappeared into it. Once they've recovered, Orube introduced Kimi to Will and her friends, and explained that Kimi and her sibling were the pair of fraternal twins whom she trained with during her stay in the Kingdom of Nihon.

"This chick really needs to get out more," Irma whispered. Hay Lin ignored her and went over to the spot where the _tengu_ died to grab Orube's sword.

"Kimi, why didn't you answer the Gemini Council's summon?" Orube crossed her arms as if reprimanding a younger sibling. "If you had something more important to do, then couldn't you have asked Kyochi to take care of it while you…" Orube noticed how Kimi looked away when she said that person's name. "Kimi…where is Kyochi?"

"I was hoping you've seen him on your way here," Kimi admitted sadly.

"Kyochi's missing?" Orube asked with concern. "Did something happen to him?"

"I don't know," Kimi seethed and clenched her fists in frustration. "I've been searching for him in these woods for days. When I sensed some auras around here, I found you fighting with the _tengu_. What happened? It's not like you to be thrashed about by a mountain spirit like that."

"Karaten was stronger than I had anticipated," Orube admitted with defeat. "It was as if he was possessed by something."

"I wouldn't be surprised since _tengu_ are also experts in martial arts," Kimi scoffed. "Then again, the evil spirits around here are getting more powerful. I've been avoiding most of them lately."

"Wait, maybe we can help each other." Will suggested. "We're looking for the source that's causing the Darkness to grow. Do you know anything about it?"

"Do I look like someone who does?" Kimi replied rudely. "Haven't you been listening? I've been wandering around these woods for days trying to look for my twin. Without him, I'm just…just…"

"Just what?"

Kimi sighed. "I doesn't matter. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be resuming my search."

"Hey, girls! Over here!" Hay Lin yelled as she ran back to them. With one hand, she gave Orube back her sword and showed the girls her find with the other. "I think it's a medallion. There's some sort of symbol on it but I don't know what it means."

"Kimi, wait!" Orube called, snatching the mysterious medallion from Hay Lin's fingers and ran to catch the girl. "Can you read this?" said the Basilíadian warrior as she handed the medallion to her.

Kimi sighed with annoyance and scrutinized it with great intensity. "Wrath," she said finally.

"What do you mean?" Orube asked. "Is that what it says?"

Kimi shook her head. "No, the Kanji may have been worn off from the blast and I can barely decipher it. It's the negative aura."

"Aura?" Will asked.

"I can read and sense auras," Kimi replied as a matter-of-factly. "And this medallion you've found," she gestured at Hay Lin, "it reeks of the negative energy of hatred and fury. In other words, it still has the red aura of wrath from that _tengu_ you've just fought."

"Wrath…" Taranee paused to think. "Wait! That was what I've felt when Irma and I started to fight each other!"

"That's it! Wrath must be the source!" Irma said.

"But wait, that can't be right," Will insisted. "When we fought against that demon in the park, I didn't feel its wrath when it induced that blue mist on me. Whatever it was, it made me feel sleepy."

"But then what was it?"

"I don't know, but if we don't find out soon, we're going to—Hey! What are you doing?" Will cried when Kimi grabbed her wrist and stared at her with intensity. Kimi's eyes began to glow white and Will felt as if she was being examined under a microscope.

Finally, Kimi let go and her glowing eyes died. "You've fought with an _ushi-oni_?"

Will nodded hesitantly. "H-how did you know that? I didn't tell you—"

"Your aura tells me everything," Kimi informed. "Your fight with the _ushi-oni_ left a small remnant of its dark aura. I can still sense a bit of blue sloth mixed with your pink aura."

Everyone, including Orube stared at her in disbelief.

"Kimi, you weren't able to do that before," Orube said. "I thought your powers deal with manifesting construct from light, not sensing auras."

"Things changed when you left, Orube-nee-chan," Kimi replied. "When you become a Guardian, you're endowed with a new special ability."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Will demanded. "Are you saying that you're a Guardian?"

Kimi smirked as she put her hands on her hips. "Look who finally caught on. Took you long enough to figure it out, lily-liver."

That was when Irma snapped. _Who does this chick thinks she is?_ Irma thought furiously. _We're the five Guardians and she called us imposters. Now she has the gall to call herself one?!_

"That's impossible! We're the five Guardians of Kandrakar!" Irma insisted, pushing her way forward. To make her point, she conjured up a stream of water and ordered it to slice the tree behind Kimi like a giant knife cutting through butter. "As far as I know, there's only one Guardian of Water right now and that's me."

"And one Guardian of Fire," Taranee added. She held up a fist as it burst into flames.

"I'm the only Guardian of Earth that Kandrakar has right now," said Cornelia.

"And the positioned of the Guardian of Air has been filled," Hay Lin stated, floating on her newly healed wings.

"And my Energy resides in the Heart of Kandrakar," Will said, "As the Keeper of the Heart, I also have the power to unite them all."

"So you see, _Kimi_," Irma mockingly said, crossing her arms. "There are only five elements and they're all taken. Therefore, you can't be a Guardian."

"I can't believe you had the audacity to call us imposters but claimed that you're a Guardian," Cornelia frowned.

"Besides," Irma smugly pointed at Kimi's black cloak, "you don't even look like one, especially in that get-up."

If Kimi was insulted, she didn't show it. Rather, she held out her right palm again and summoned the same white sphere of light. It wasn't illuminating fiercely this time so the others were able to make out its shape. And it looked like…

"The Heart of Kandrakar?" Will gapped. She held out hers.

"There can't be two Hearts?" Irma gapped. "Can there?"

Orube shook her head. "No, that can't be the Heart of Kandrakar," Orube pointed out. "The frame is black and the crystal is white!"

"You're right, Orube-nee-chan. This isn't the Heart of Kandrakar," Kimi replied. "It's the Jewel of Life. Like your Heart, the Jewel can only be possessed by a Guardian…" with her freed hand, Kimi unclipped the badge holding her black cloak in place.

She threw back her cloak to reveal whatever it was underneath. Orube and the five Guardians gasped when they saw Kimi wearing the familiar purple and green attire of a Guardian complete with her own pairs gossamer wings. Like Hay Lin, Kimi's outfit was Asian-styled with green ribbons tied around her long, black fingerless gloves. However, while Hay Lin's style was Chinese to reflect her heritage with a winding ribbon around her waiste, Kimi's came with a Japanese obi sash and a small black and silver pin holding her long, purple skirt in place. Like all five of them, there was a symbol on Kimi's top and Hay Lin could have sworn it looked like half of the yin-yang symbol.

"That's not possible…" Cornelia whispered.

"This is wrong on so many levels," Irma complained.

"I can't believe the Oracle never told us," Taranee said in disbelief.

Will, on the other hand, couldn't find the right words describe her shocked feelings.

Kimi…you're the…" Orube started.

"Yes, Orube-nee-chan," Kimi declared as she finished Orube's sentence with the glowing Jewel of Life in her hand. "I'm Kimi Watsuki, the Guardian of Light."

_**To be continued…**_

_**Cultural references:**_

_**When Irma said mentioned how the meeting room of the Gemini Council looked like the inside of her little brother's video game, it was a reference to Disney's **_**Kingdom Hearts**_** games where the members of Organization XIII in their black, hooded outfits would sit on their tall thrones in a circular room.**_

_**Rather than 13 members like Organization XIII, the Gemini Council only has 12 main members and practically all of them were based on real fans of W.I.T.C.H. At the same time, the twelve members have different personalities from their real-life inspirations.**_

_**If you haven't read the original W.i.t.c.h. comic series, Mr. Horseberg is the girls' dreaded math teacher who replaced Mrs. Rudolph when she left Earth to return to Meridian to live with Caleb, Elyon and her adopted parents. Irma and most of the kids pretty much don't like him and the students nick-named him "Horse-face Horseberg" out of disrespect. I'd thought it be a laugh to write him in someone like this.**_

_**The Eastern Air Kingdom of Nihon is practically Lusteria's version of Earth's Japan.**_

_**Like the **_**ushi-oni**_** in pt. I of chapter one, the **_**tengu**_** is a supernatural creature found in Japanese folklore. Buddhism long held that the **_**tengu**_** were disruptive demons and harbingers of war and wrath, yet they are still depicted as protective and dangerous Spirits of the mountains and forests. They are also depicted as expert martial artists.**_

"**Karaten"**_** was actually the name of Karatenmon, the Digimon version of the **_**tengu**_**.**_

_**I thought it was sad when Orube left at the end of the fifth arc in the comic series and should have been the one to return in order to train the Guardians with their New Powers, not Matt. I wanted to give Orube a new, important role in this story, as well as a new warrior outfit.**_

_**Kimi Watsuki is my original character, and is the Guardian of Light. Despite her rudeness, Kimi still regards Orube like an older sister, so she calls her "nee-chan" in Japanese. **_


	3. The New Gaurdians pt III

**W.****I.****T.****C.****H.****D****r****e****a****m****s**** o****f****L****u****s****t****e****r****i****a**

**By Galistar07water**

_**Disclaimer: W.I.T.C.H. is owned and copyrighted by the Walt Disney Company Italia and is in no way affiliated with the fictional works of Galistar07water.**_

_**Artist note: If you would like to see drawings of W.I.T.C.H. Dreams of Lusteria, please visit my page and click the "W.I.T.C.H. Dreams of Lusteria" folder in the gallery section.**_

**_Chapter 01: The New Guardians pt. III_**

At that moment in Lusteria, Will and her friends were at a loss for words. In the past, the Elders of Kandrakar had kept a lot of secrets from the Guardians. The girls were constantly annoyed by being kept in the dark, until it was Taranee who decided that she could not take it anymore. Feeling like a pawn controlled by the Oracle, Taranee decided to go on hiatus from her role as the Fire Guardian, only to be replaced by Orube. After a while, Taranee rejoined the group and Orube continued to stay as its "sixth" member. Since then, they always assumed it was just the six of them and only them as Kandrakar's magical soldiers. They were already surprised enough when Yan Lin revealed to them the existence of the Gemini Council. However, the presence of a smaller branch of power was more understandable in comparison to the existence of another Guardian standing right in front of them.

"You're a Guardian?" Cornelia gapped.

"How is this possible?" Irma questioned. "How can there be more than _five_ Guardians?"

"After all we've been through, Kandrakar still decided to keep something as important as this a secret from us," Taranee clenched her fists as one of them burst into a small flame.

"Kimi, how did you become a Guardian?" Will asked.

"I failed to see if this is any of your business," Kimi replied rudely. "However, based on your stricken reactions, I, too, am infuriated with Kandrakar."

"So you didn't know about the existence of five other Guardians other than yourself?" Orube asked.

"No!" Kimi seethed through her teeth as she clenched the Jewel of Life in her palm. "When I get my hands on those imbeciles, I will wring out every explanation they know."

Although she was no fan of this new girl's attitude, Irma agreed. She was about to comment her opinion on this when, suddenly, Will felt a powerful pulse through the Heart of Kandrakar. The Keeper summoned it and to their surprises; both the Heart and the Jewel ringed together in unison and began to display an image.

"Someone rang?" Irma asked.

"Hey, that's Meridian!" Cornelia said, recognizing the image being projected. "Something's wrong. What's going on there?"

"What strange world is this?" Kimi questioned.

"It's Metamoor," Orube replied. "I think something is attacking the city!"

Sure enough, the magically projected image showed the girls the citizens screaming in terror as they were running away from something. Upon a closer look, they were being attacked by a giant cloud made from bats. A figure appeared from the storm of bats. It was a tall, grotesque man wearing a hat with a glowing green chain in his hand. He wasn't alone for a large dog stood by his side. Will and her friends watched in horror as the dark figure ordered the bats to attack the people. The ones who were bitten changed dramatically. Where there was fear before, it was replaced by a sudden desire of pure hatred. Once bitten, the victims began to attack their fellow friends and family members.

"Those bats have the same red auras as the _tengu_," Kimi stated stoically.

"This is horrible!" Hay Lin cried. "Will, we have to do something!"

"But where's Elyon?" Will asked. "She's supposed to be protecting the city!"

As if hearing Will's question, the Heart and the Jewel showed them an image of a plume of bats heading for a figure on a castle's balcony. They saw Elyon waving a hand up as she tried to repel them with a burst of light. It worked, but Elyon staggered back as if weakened before falling into Caleb's arms. He ordered Elyon's adopted parents to take her inside while he stayed to defend the castle. Brandishing his sword, Caleb heroically jumped down into the mist of chaos with Vathek by his side. But despite their heroism, they would soon fall prey to the dark bats and their cruel master.

"Caleb!" Cornelia cried. Turning to Will, she demanded. "Will, we have to go to Meridian now!"

"You're right," Will agreed. "We can come back here later, but for now our friends need us on Metamoor."

Will asked the Heart to open a portal to Meridian. After all five of them left, Orube turned back to see Kimi still standing there. "Kimi, are you coming with us?" Orube asked, but Kimi didn't answer. Sighing, Orube shook her head in disappointment, "Very well. It seems you have more important things to take care of than to serve Kandrakar as its Guardian of Light." With that, she disappeared through the portal.

Kimi pondered what Orube had just said and frowned. Scoffing at herself, she jumped into the portal before it closed at the last second.

* * *

"No good! We have to fall back, Caleb!" Vathek cried, swinging a spiked metal ball at the flying bats.

"No, we can't let the Tracker reach the castle!" Caleb replied.

"It will do us no good if we get bitten, too," Vathek reminded him. "Tracker is pure evil, but his powers have been doubled by an unknown force we know nothing of."

"We have to protect the Queen!" Caleb insisted.

Suddenly the bats withdrew and a growl from a vicious dog replaced the screeches. The Tracker came with glowing red eyes. Caleb seethed and stood his ground.

"Not another step, Tracker!" Caleb warned. "You'll not lay a hand on the Queen!"

The Tracker laughed maniacally, his laughter filled with great insanity as if he was intoxicated. "Your…pitiful effort...is meaningless…" The Tracker whispered coldly. "All shall suffer…from my wrath…"

With a wave of his hand, the Tracker's dog jumped on Caleb, biting into his arm as the former Whisperer tried to break free.

"Caleb!" Vathek cried. He jumped in to help, but was immediately chained down by the Tracker before he could do anything. Without another word, the Tracker unleashed another wave of bats on them both.

Caleb and Vathek screamed in pain and tried their best to fight off the bats. Slowly, their frustration turned to rage. Once the biting stopped, Caleb and Vathek eyed each other vehemently.

"I told you we should have fallen back!" Vathek accused.

"Silence!" Caleb ordered. "I'm in charge around here, Vathek! You will follow my order or I'll have you imprison!"

"You and whose army?!" Vathek challenged.

The Tracker laughed with absolutely savage pleasure as he watched both men began to fight one another. "Soon…all shall feel my wrath…" the Tracker snickered. He looked up at the castle. "…I shall hunt…the biggest prey…and make her hunt her own subjects…"

"The only wrath you'll be feeling is from me once I'm through with you!" said a voice above his head.

The Tracker immediately looked up to see an angry Cornelia dropping in from the sky and landed in front of him. With great intensity in her eyes, Cornelia raised up both of her hands and the earth beneath the Tracker splits open. Immediately, giant vines with thorns sprouted from the chasm and wrapped themselves around the Tracker and his hound. They were immobilized.

"Remind me to never make fun of her ex-boyfriend when she's in a bad mood," Irma commented to Hay Lin.

"Caleb!" Cornelia cried, turning her attention back to Caleb. "Caleb, are you alright?" Caleb didn't respond. He was too preoccupied trying to take on Vathek. "Caleb, stop this! You and Vathek are friends!"

"I don't think they hear you, Corny," Irma replied.

"They must be under the same spell that affected Irma and Taranee earlier," Orube pointed out.

"Will, do something!" Cornelia cried.

"I'm on it," Will reassured her as she held out the Heart of Kandrakar. The blinding light from the Heart fell on the two fighting friends, bathing them both in its warm glow.

"Argh!" Vathek and Caleb cried as they recoiled instinctively.

"Calm down," Will said with a soothing voice. "Remember who your real friends are…remember who you're fighting against…"

"We…we were fighting…" Vathek started… "…we were fighting to protect…"

"You're…right, Vathek," Caleb agreed as they both came to their senses. "We were supposed to be fighting the Tracker to protect Elyon's castle…but...what happen?" At last, Caleb and Vathek relaxed as Cornelia threw herself into Caleb's arms.

"Caleb!" she cried.

"Cornelia? You're here…" Caleb realized. He looked up to see the other Guardians and Orube. "You're all here!"

"Guardians! It's so good to see you again!" Vathek cried, getting up to shake Irma's hands.

"Hey, it's not a party without us here, right, blue guy?" Irma joked. Turning to Cornelia and Caleb, she smirked. "Wow, I wonder what Elyon would say if she saw you two like this."

Cornelia and Caleb both blushed furiously, forgetting that Caleb had broken up with the Earth Guardian and is now with Elyon, her best friend.

"Um…you know we're just friends now, right?" Caleb asked nervously.

"Yeah, and you're happily with Elyon now," Cornelia agreed.

Before Irma could tease them again, the Tracker and his dog howled demonically, drawing all of their attentions. Not much to the Guardians' surprises, the Tracker broke free from Cornelia's vines.

"No time for jokes, girls," Will positioned herself defensively.

"Whatever you do, don't let his bats bite you," Orube warned them. She brandished her sword and knocked the Tracker's huge dog to the ground when it tried to pounce on her."You're fast, but I'm faster, mutt."

The Tracker scowled. "You'll pay for this, Guardians…yield to my wrath!"

He unleashed a wave of bats at them, but Will used her energy and summoned a shield. With the bats obscuring her view, Will didn't notice the Tracker throwing his glowing green chain around her ankles. He pulled hard and she fell. The shield Will conjured up instantly disappeared as the Tracker dragged her closer to his hungry hound.

"Let go!" Taranee cried. She flew in and grabbed the chain with both of her hands. "Don't mess with fire, Tracker…literally!" And with that, the Guardian of Fire sent a bolt of searing pain through the chains. The Tracker screamed in pain when the heat smoldered his hands with a third degree burn and dropped the chain, freeing Will.

"We need to unite our powers and fire it at him like we did with the _tengu_ and the _ushi-oni_," Hay Lin said. "Will, use the Heart!"

"I'm on it!" Will responded as she summoned the Heart of Kandrakar.

"The three of us will keep him busy!" Caleb said as he, Vathek, and Orube dived in with their weapons. "You girls fire once I give the signal."

While the three warriors kept the Tracker and his hound busy, the five Guardians summoned their powers and combined it with the Heart. Once it was ready, Caleb pretended to come in for another strike at the Tracker but the jumped out of the way at the last minute.

"Now!" He shouted.

"Fire!" Will ordered and they all released the converged attack at their foe. It went into the Tracker's chest and sunk in. Just like their two previous foes, the Tracker recoiled in agony as the magical blast consumed him from within. The bats poured out from his body and were immediately disintegrated. Not even the Tracker's hound was spared. Once the remains of the Tracker and his hound were reduced to dust, the same red mist began to evaporate into thin air. Hay Lin decided to fly in and spotted another medallion.

"Girls, look!" Hay Lin cried. "Another one just like the _tengu's_ on Lusteria!"

"Great, at this rate we should open up our own used-jewelry shop," Irma commented. She waited for Cornelia to retort on her joke. When Cornelia didn't, Irma turned around to see Caleb holding Cornelia up.

"Cornelia, what's wrong?" Caleb asked with concern when Cornelia placed a hand against her forehead. It looked as if she was getting dizzy from converging her magic with the others.

"No, I think Elyon's in trouble," Cornelia replied.

"Don't worry, the Queen is safe with her staff," Caleb reassure her.

"No, Cornelia's right," Hay Lin said, still holding the medallion in on hand. "The Tracker may be gone, but I can still sense something evil in the air." Looking up at one of the towers of the castle, Hay Lin tuned in to her element and concentrate. "I feel it…and it's coming from that tower."

* * *

"Elyon, you must rest!" said Elyon's adopted mother, Captain Miriadel. "Whatever is happening, it's draining your powers."

"But I must help Caleb," Elyon insisted, trying to get up from her seat.

"No, your mother is right, dear," said her adopted father, Commander Alborn. "Your people need you. If you want to help everyone, including Caleb, you must get your strength back first."

"Trust in Caleb, dear," Miriadel insisted, brushing a lock of Elyon's hair out of her face like a mother hen. "Please, rest for our sakes as well. Your father and I will defend the palace doors should the Tracker comes. Nagadir!" Miriadel ordered. Elyon's private maid came running.

"Yes, ma'am?" Nagadir bowed.

"Take Elyon to her chamber," said Miriadel. "And give her the master chef's potion. She'll need her full strength should Alborn and I fall. And if things turn out for worse, take her through the tunnels and into the Infinite City. Galgheita will lead the two of you to safety."

"Right away, ma'am," Nagadir curtsied and led Elyon back into her private chamber.

"I'm alright, Nagadir," Elyon insisted.

"I'm sure you are, but you must not push yourself too far," said Nagadir. "You just came back from Kandrakar and suddenly used your powers to defend the city against the Tracker. You're exhausted!"

"Alright, if it'll calm you down, I'll drink the master chef's healing potion," Elyon smiled. "However, I doubt it'll help me much. Whatever this new Dark threat is, it's fueling the Tracker's evil intention and powers while diminishing mine."

"Will the Council of Kandrakar and its Guardian be able to help us, Your Majesty?" Nagadir asked. "They helped saved Meridian in the past, surely they'll help us again."

"I'm not sure, Nagadir," Elyon replied. "With the approaching Darkness, I think Cornelia and her friends will suffer from the same fate as me."

"Don't say that, Your Majesty," Nagadir insisted. "Surely your Light will be able to shine through and so will the Guardians!"

Both women waited in silence as the battle continued outside. Suddenly, when all was quiet, Nagadir, peaked out the windows. "I don't see the bats anymore," said Nagadir. "I can hear the soldiers cheering."

Elyon was about to get up to see for herself when there was a sudden knock on the door.

"Enter," Elyon said, but with caution.

A girl about the same age as Elyon came in, holding a bowl of red liquid in her hands. "Pardon me, Your Majesty, but Captain Miriadel sent me to bring you the master chef's healing potion."

"Yes, thank you…um…" Elyon began, but then realized she doesn't know the girl's name.

"Miranda, Your Majesty," the girl replied sweetly and curtsied.

"Um…yes, right…" Elyon hesitated. There was something about this girl she doesn't like but she couldn't put her finger on it. "Sorry, I don't remember you too well."

"That's okay, I'm new," Miranda smiled. Elyon ordered Nagadir to wait outside until she finished. Nagadir bowed and left. "I just started today. You should really drink up. The master chef will kill me if I come back with it half-empty."

"Right," Elyon nodded. She held her breath and took one deep gulp. "How are things out there? Is it bad?"

"Better than ever, Your Majesty," Miranda chirped. "The Tracker has been defeated."

Elyon nearly choked on her potion, clearly a bit surprised. "Caleb won?"

"You could say that," Miranda shrugged. "You must be so proud of him."

"That I am, Miranda," Elyon agreed.

"You should reward him for his bravery," Miranda suggested.

Elyon laughed weakly. _Urgh, I must still be drained,_ Elyon thought. _Apparently, this healing potion doesn't work as fast as the master chef says._

"And what type of reward do you think I should give him?" Elyon asked. Feeling a little bit dizzy, she decided to sit down on one of the couches in the room.

"If it were me, I would be very grateful for something to eat," Miranda smiled mischievously. If Elyon wasn't busy with her dizziness, she would have noticed a glint in the girl's eyes and it would tell her that something was wrong.

"Food? Are you really that hungry yourself?" Elyon asked. "Is that master chef's cooking not to your liking, Miranda?"

"You have no idea," Miranda replied in a dark tone. "Is the potion you drank not poisonous enough for you?"

Elyon gasped and got up to her feet, but instead, she fell to her knees. She tried to get up but her vision was spinning violently.

"What did you do?!" Elyon demanded.

"Aw…feeling weak, my Queen?" Miranda laughed. "That's understandable. After all, I spiked the master chef's healing potion for you with my special venom. Soon the poison will paralyze your body and your magic."

"Why are you doing this? Who are you, witch?!" Elyon demanded.

Miranda laughed maniacally with sheer pleasure. "Why? I told you, I'm hungry. You see, I came from depths of the Abyss of Shadows. Oh, I'm sure you've heard of it from the time of Prince Phobos's reign. Ever since you came to power, your magic pushed me into the abyss and I've been trying to crawl out of it ever since. You simply don't know how difficult it is to find food down there."

Miranda laughed, and suddenly, her body contorted in a grotesque fashion. Her joints made a popping and cracking sound and her deceptive Escanor face twisted into something horrible. Luckily, Elyon didn't have to see how ugly her face got as black hair began to cover it as well as Miranda's entire body. Once the transformation was completed, Miranda now stood as a giant spider with black hair and troll-liked limbs. When she spoke, her voice now sounded rough and wicked.

"I always craved for little things like farmers' livestock or better yet…passling meat," Miranda sneered. "But ever since your blasted light magic banished me into the pit, I tasted nothing but mold and cave snails for years!"

"Yeah, well I'm glad that the abyss suits your ugly dark appearance," Elyon snapped.

"Silence girl!" Miranda snapped. She spat a large, sticky web at Elyon's mouth, silencing her. She spitted out more web, but this time, to wrap Elyon up like a black widow with its prey. "Now, let me finish telling you my little story that's about to become a happily ever after…for me, that is."

Elyon glared at her and tried to use her magic to break free. The Crown of Light did nothing and Elyon remembered that the mysterious Dark threat had weakened it. At the same time, her own magic has been blocked by Miranda's poison.

"I was eating through a meager portion of disgusting snails when suddenly, there was a strange portal in front of me," Miranda continued, clearly enjoying the sound of her monologue. "A strange, green mist poured out and when I touched it, I suddenly felt more powerful and was able to escape from my everlasting prison…and my taste for fresh meat changed, of course. I no longer desire pathetic passling meat. Why should I devour something that has no power of its own?"

Elyon realized what Miranda was trying to infer, but it was too late. The poison in the drink completely incapacitated her. She could no longer move except to breathe and to blink.

Bending closer, Miranda opened her mouth and a strange green mist poured out, enveloping Elyon. While inducing Elyon with her newfound dark magic, Miranda was essentially eating up parts of the Queen's power. As she ate, she grew in size until her form practically took up the entire room.

"Once I'm finished with the appetizer, I'll have all the power I need to destroy your precious kingdom!" Miranda laughed and bent down for a huge bite of Elyon's head.

Suddenly, a glowing white arrow shot between them, causing Miranda to recoil back.

"And once I'm through with _you_, you'll be nothing but a squashed spider!" said a new voice.

"Who dares disturb my meal?!" Miranda demanded, clearly furious for being interrupted.

"Why don't you take a closer look?" Kimi said, and shot several more white arrows at Miranda.

Miranda screamed and tried to move, but she was too big and there was barely any room left for her to move around. While trying to scrap the white arrows off of her face, Kimi dove in and grabbed Elyon's prone form. "Looks like you need a hand, _Hikari-hime_," Kimi said. She used her magic and teletransported both of them out of the chamber and into the throne room where Miriadel and Alborn stood.

"By the Light of Meridian, what is this?" Alborn exclaimed.

"Elyon?!" Miriadel gasped in surprised. "Elyon, what happened to you?" Looking up at the strange girl in a black robe, she scowled. "Who are you? What did you do to my daughter?!"

"I'm the Guardian of Light," Kimi responded, ignoring the threatening glares the both of them were giving. "And if you're really going to use your swords against someone, I suggest you use it on the _jorogumo_ who is in this girl's room. Clearly, the beast had developed an appetite for royal flesh."

"What are you talking about?" Alborn demanded. Before anything else, the wall behind the empty throne crumbled and Miranda came running out.

"_**WHERE IS SHE?!"**_ Miranda screamed._**"WHERE IS MY FOOD?!"**_

"Does that answer your question?" Kimi commented sarcastically.

Miranda heard her and looked down to see her prey. _**"THERE'S MY QUEENLY DINNER!"**_

"You did this?" Miriadel cried in shock.

"NO! You'll not lay a finger on my daughter, you monster!" Alborn warned. He held up his sword and swung it at her. To his surprise, the sword barely scratched Miranda and she laughed.

"Alborn!" Miriadel cried, getting up to help her husband. "Whoever you are, save Queen Elyon!" she said, with her back turned to Kimi. "Alborn and I will handle this."

Kim highly doubted that they'll be able to last for long against a hairy creature that large. Turning her attention back to the prone queen in front of her, she used a finger and cut through the web with an enchanted laser knife. Ripping off the stick web from Elyon's mouth, Kimi manifested the Jewel of Life and brought it close to the queen's crown. Soon enough, both items shone brilliantly, illuminating the entire throne room.

* * *

"What's that?" Irma cried when she noticed a brilliant light shining through the cracks of the double doors in front of them.

"That's the throne room!" Caleb cried. "Elyon must be inside!"

"I hear screaming," Hay Lin cried in shock. "I think Elyon's in trouble!"

"Elyon, we're coming!" Cornelia stated. Running right up to the doors, Cornelia summoned her magic and knocked them down.

This was perhaps the second time the five Guardians have been in Elyon's throne room. The first time, they had come to help Elyon dethrone Phobos. Now, they have arrived to help her again…however, they didn't expecting to see Kimi right next to Elyon's side as well.

"_**YOU?!"**_ Irma scowled. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Unbelievable!" Taranee gapped. "You've followed us to Metamoor and beat us to the palace?"

"Kimi what are you doing here?" Orube demanded. "I thought you were busy searching for your brother back on Lusteria."

"Cornelia, who is this girl?" Caleb asked. Glaring at Kimi, he said, "And what did you do with Queen Elyon?"

"Will you all just shut the hell up so I can concentrate on healing _Hikari-kime_?" Kimi snapped, focusing all of her light magic with the healing breath of the Jewel of Life. Mentally, she ordered the magic pendant to shower Elyon's body with light. "If you want to make yourself useful, I suggest you give those two over there a hand with the _jorogumo_."

"A joro-what?" Irma asked, looking at Orube for an answer. "What is she talking about and wha—_**HOLY CRAP!**_"

Everyone, saved for Kimi and Elyon, gasped when they saw the sight of Miranda batting against Miriadel and Alborn.

Taranee was the first to scream. _**"AAAHHH! A SPIDER! A GIANT, UGLY, HAIRY SPIDER! I HATE SPIDERS!"**_

"Will, I think you should call an exterminator because we have one huge infestation in this palace!" Irma said.

"Caleb! Girls! Help us!" Miriadel cried, dodging Miranda's crushing blow. "This monster is too much for us!"

"We're coming!" Caleb cried as he and Vathek charged. The others followed suit and exchange blows, both from magical attacks and regular medieval weaponry. Miranda screeched, piercing their ears with a deafening cry that shook the castle ground.

"Worthless! You're nothing but flies to me!" Miranda screamed.

"You hurt Elyon!" Cornelia snapped, blasting green earth magic at Miranda. It drove her back against the wall, but other than that, it didn't break her. "I'll kill you for that!"

"Bold words, Guardian," Miranda mocked. "But let see if you can all handle this!"

At that moment, Miriadel and Alborn chose the wrong time to charge in with their swords at the ready. Miranda smirked and breathed out a green mist from her mouth, inducing Elyon's adopted parents with her dark magic.

"No!" Will cried as Alborn and his wife fell to their knees. "Not again!"

"What are you two doing? Get up!" Hay Lin cried.

"I can't…don't have the strength…" Alborn muttered, his eyes dull and his body gave off the same green aura as his wife.

"Too…ravenous to continue…" Miriadel whispered, clearly under the same spell as her husband. "Must consume…"

"How can you two be thinking of eating at a time like this?" Irma cried with frustration.

"It's not their fault!" Elyon cried from behind them. After recovering her strength with Kimi's help, she got back on her legs. "I felt a similar sensation when Miranda induced me with that green mist earlier."

"I'll make sure that each of you will feel it again," Miranda claimed, jumping for Will first. Quickly, Will dodged her attack and used the Heart of Kandrakar to boost her electrifying energy. Aiming it at Miranda, Will was able to knock her back for the moment.

"We can use either the Heart or Kimi's Jewel to free them," Will suggested. She flew in towards Miriadel and Alborn in order to free them of the dark spell, but a spider web shot out from Miranda and pinned Will against a pillar.

"Argh, Dammit!" She swore.

"Everyone, duck!" Caleb cried as he and the others scrambled once Miranda got her footing again.

For the next five minutes, the scene either changed from the Guardians' advantage in raining their attacks down on Miranda or one of them running and dodging her sticky web and green mist attack.

"How are we supposed to beat something as huge and ugly as this?" Irma demanded, trying to wash Miranda away with a pillar of water. The only thing she managed was ticking off the spider-monster more by drenching her hair.

"I may have an idea," Orube suggested. Taking advantage of the others distracting Miranda, she gestured Kimi to follow her to Will and they both cut her loose. "Based on what Elyon told us between fighting with Miranda, I'm guessing this servant girl is similar to a _jorogumo_ on Lusteria," Orube noted. Turning to the Guardian of Light, she asked, "Kimi, do you remember any weaknesses about them?"

"They say that fire doesn't mix well with a spider's web," Kimi noted. "While the _jorogumo_s on my planet can weave powerful webs, they can do nothing against the flame itself."

"Do you remember that time when your uncle managed to kill one?" Orube asked.

Upon this question, Kimi smiled wickedly as she realized what Orube was suggesting.

"I don't get it," Will said with annoyance. "What plan are you talking about?"

"Don't worry, I'll let you know," Orube smiled. "Just follow these instructions."

A few minutes later, Vathek and Caleb were getting beaten to a pulp while Elyon was trying to free Hay Lin from beneath a few rubbles. Before, the Air Guardian had tried to fly in and attack Miranda with her two magical fans, but the later quickly knocked her aside as if she was a mere fly. Before Miranda could trap her with her web, Irma, Taranee, and Cornelia flew in and showered their opponent with a barrage of elemental blast, holding her down.

"We have to fall back," Elyon ordered. With the light from her crown shining bright, she bent down to free her adopted parents from Miranda's control and helped them up.

"What? But we can't let Miranda win!" Caleb objected.

"Will just whispered a plan to me. Now followed my order!"

Caleb didn't like it, but decided not to object with his heart mate. "Girls, get back!" He called to Cornelia and to others. "Run!"

"What? You've got to be kidding me!" Cornelia objected.

"Elyon says so, so move it!"

"Where do you think you're going?" Miranda hissed as she chased after them. They turned a corner down the hall and out of the throne room. "Can't you see I'm still starving here? I want some royal flesh for dinner and you're not getting away!"

"If you want your dinner, you'll have to catch it first!" Irma mocked.

Miranda ignored her and followed their scent until she reached a room. Busting the door down, she saw that it was empty save for all the wooden furniture. "Hide all you want. I can find you no matter where you are." Miranda picked up an armchair, but when she found nothing she furiously smashed the furniture into bits. "No more games! I will feast on Elyon's flesh tonight one way or another. As for the rest of your pests, you'll be the dessert."

"You're right, Miranda," said a voice behind her. Miranda turned around to see Elyon standing alone in the center of the large room. She positioned herself defensively, her fists glowing white with energy. "No more games. Let's end this now. You want me? Well, come and get me!"

"You're offering yourself upright onto the plate, my Queen? Lovely!" Miranda laughed as Elyon threw two energy spheres at her. Miranda quickly batted them away and charged. _**"DIE!"**_

Miranda made a huge dive in order to seize Elyon. Instead, she grabbed nothing but air as her hands passed through the Queen of Metamoor. _**"WHAT?!"**_ Miranda cried in disbelief. Before she could get up, giant pillars constructed out of light came crashing down around her rotund form, trapping her like tiger in a cage.

"Up here, stupid," Kimi smirked from the top of a balcony. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist the bait."

"How was this possible?!" Miranda demanded. She tried to break free from her cage, but Kimi's magical light constructs continued to hold her in place. "Where is Elyon?"

"Hmph, the Elyon that you've tried to catch before was nothing more than a holographic specter created from Kimi's light magic," Orube simpered. "The _real_ Elyon, on the other hand, is safe here with me."

"You're through, Miranda!" the real Elyon cried. "This is the end. Do it, girls."

"Cornelia, now!" Will ordered as the Earth Guardian used her magic to levitate all of the wooden furniture and dropped them on Miranda.

"Your turn, Irma!" Cornelia glanced at Irma as she poured several gallons of foul smelling black tar downward into the cage, covering Miranda and the furniture with its thick substance.

"What is this?" Miranda demanded.

"It is called tar, spider-girl," Taranee grinned. She held up a flaming fist and aimed it at the monster beneath her. "You want dinner, right? How about roasted spider? Chef Taranee's specialty!" She fired several bolts of flame and the next thing they knew the room was filled with the horrifying scream of Miranda as the inferno incinerated her.

Once the fire devoured Miranda entirely, the agonizing screams stopped as she was reduced to ash. Like the three previous monsters, a mysterious mist, but green, evaporated and the fire died. The only thing left of her remain was a charred medallion.

"It's over," Elyon said with a sigh.

* * *

"No, it has only begun and you should know it," said Lord Araël once the Guardians and Orube returned to the Gemini Council. Despite being nearly eaten alive by a monstrous spider, Elyon ignored Caleb's protest and insisted on accompanying them. After the excitement had died down and her head felt cleared enough, Elyon was just as shocked as W.I.T.C.H. to see that Kimi is a Guardian. Wanting to find out the cause of these monsters' attacks with dark powers as well as satisfying her curiosity about the Guardian of Light, Elyon set off for Kandrakar.

Upon their return, they met with two more Gemini Council members who were talking to their leader. Lady Verlona introduced them as Lord Mathis, the Aquatic Sorcerer and Lady Freyja, the Nordic Angel. Mathis was an older middle-age looking man with twinkling blue eyes while Freyja was a beautiful angel with a pair of snow-white wings and long, brown hair. Immediately after their introduction, Verlona suggested something and Freyja instantaneously manifested a scepter, magically healing the Guardians and the others from any wounds obtained from their recent battles.

"Wow, thanks a lot, lady," Irma commented.

"My pleasure, Guardians," Freyja smiled.

"It seems we have two guests here in our halls today," Lord Araël said, noticing Elyon and Caleb. "Welcome to the Halls of the Gemini Council, Queen of Metamoor."

"Your Light is always welcome here," Lady Verlona greeted. "It has been a long time since the last Queen of Metamoor had set foot in our halls."

"With the way you've ruled over your subjects, you truly are Weira's daughter," Lady Freyja complimented.

"My mother was here before?" Elyon gasped.

"Indeed," Lord Mathis nodded. "She first came here when she recently became the new ruler of your world."

Irritated, Kimi stormed up to the Oracle and the four Gemini Councilmen. "Enough! I have no time for your useless conversation with _Hikari-hime_! You have some explaining to do!" Glaring at Will and her friends, she pointed a finger at them. "Why didn't you inform me of these five lily-livers?! I demand a straight answer from you!"

Ignoring Kimi's insulting nickname for them, Irma decided to jump in. "You know, she's not the only one who's curious about this," Irma agreed. She placed both hands on her hip. "How could there be more than five Guardians? I thought all the elements were taken. No one told us that Light is considered an element!"

"It is complicated, Irma," Yan Lin said. "One that would take too long to explain."

"Grandma!" Hay Lin gasped. "You knew this all along? Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell _me_?"

"I thought you trusted us," Taranee accused. "After all we've been through for this place, don't we deserve to know?"

"And how could there be another Heart of Kandrakar?" Will demanded. "Okay, fine. It's not _the_ Heart of Kandrakar, but it's still a look-a-like!"

"Girls, please!" Yan Lin held up her two hands to calm them down. "Settle down. Yes, I knew that there existed more than five Guardians, but there was no reason for you to know about each other as there was no reason for you to know about the Gemini Council. Our destinies are too different since the beginning and rarely both teams would cross each others' paths."

"Wait, what team?" Will asked. "Are you trying to say there are other Guardians out there besides Kimi?"

"Are there any other secrets you would like to tell us?" Taranee commented with irritation.

Yan Lin sighed and glanced at the other members of the Gemini Council. "Due to this impending Darkness that threatens to overbalance our Light, I will tell you everything that I can for now in hopes of bringing peace to your hearts." Looking at the Aquatic Sorcerer, the Oracle said, "Lord Mathis, would you kindly do the honor?"

Marthis nodded and held up a hand. Instantly, computerized interface screens appeared and began to play a few familiar images. Upon a closer inspection, Will and her friends recognized some of them from the time when they were put to the test in Kandrakar with switched elements.

"As you know," Yan Lin began, "The Universe was watched over by the Five Nymphs; Xin Jing, the Nymph of the Elements who freed the Four Dragons; Oneide, the Nymph of Life, Téa, the Nymph of the Sun, Ebla, the Nymph of the Moon, and N'ghala, the Nymph of the Stars." Like a class presentation, the girls watched the scenes unfold on the screens as images of the Five Nymphs changed to the creation of Kandrakar.

"But soon, beings and creatures learned evil," Yan Lin continued, "and a negative energy brought hatred and violence by trying to break the harmony of the universe. The Five Nymphs combated this problem by creating Kandrakar and there, they gathered the greatest minds of their own worlds and established the Congregation of Kandrakar. The Nymph N'ghala became the first Oracle and she created the first two Guardians. It wasn't until several generations later that N'ghala understood that having five Guardians was the perfect number.

"However, while the Congregation of Kandrakar and its five Guardians were only created to protect the Balance and Peace of the universe," Yan Lin reminded them. "The other three Nymphs realized that there must be a branch to maintain the Balance between Light and Darkness which exists in all things of the universe."

"Wait, say that again because I think you just lost me," Irma said. "Aren't those two pretty much the same thing?"

Yan Lin and the other Elders shook their heads.

"No, the Oracle's council and Guardians ensure that there are peace and balance in the universe," said Lord Mathis. "Our job is to ensure that the power between Light and Darkness does not outweigh each other to the point of destruction."

"So it's like the Chinese philosophical concept of yin and yang," Will suggested. "Things like hot and cold or light and dark! Am I right?"

Yan Lin nodded. "Yes, and as you know, one must not overbalance the other or there would be serious consequences," The Oracle glanced at Mathis so that he may continued with the images and data on the interfaces. "It was Oneide, whom treasured all living things, brought this up and created the Gemini Council with the help of the Nymphs Téa and Ebla. Oneide would become its first leader and she established two more Guardians. She looked to Lusteria, a world filled with both magic and spirituality, and chose two twin brothers who became the first Guardians of Light…and Darkness."

"There's a Guardian of Darkness?!" Will interrupted.

"There are _guys_ who were Guardians?!" Irma blurted out. Without meaning to, she laughed and earned a glare from Kimi. "I'm sorry, but I can't imagine guys with wings and wearing green and purple!"

Suddenly, images of two identical twins appeared on the interface. But rather than the usual green and purple Guardians' outfits with round diaphanous wings the girls wear, these young men wore green and blue with diamond shaped wings to encapsulate their masculinity as Guardians.

"Girls, you must understand that where there is Light, there is also Darkness," Yan Lin reminded them. "The events in which you've faced Nerissa as well as Phobos's return to Kandrakar were proof enough of this." Ignoring Irma's joke, Yan Lin continued, "Oneide created the Jewel of Life from her breath and bestowed it on these two brothers. Téa contributed by bestowing a sword, _Heaven's Revolution_, to the Guardian of Light and Ebla gave her mirror, _Moonlight Justice_, to the Guardian of Darkness. Over times, these two brothers would use these talismans and fought to ensure a stable balance between Light and Darkness which exists in all things. Eventually, the brothers would go their separate ways. The youngest brother, Kazuhiro, and the first Guardian of Light, would become the founder of the Kinomoto clan. His twin, Kazuhiko, would become the founder of its rival family, the Watsuki clan."

"The Kinomoto family is one of the most powerful and influential clans of Nihon as well as the rest of the planet," Orube added. "They are mostly renowned for being able to produce the most sets of twins in a single generation."

"Yes, and like our Honorable Oracle Yan Lin, Kazuhiro's successors would be none other than his own descendants. There has never been a pair of Twin Guardians designated outside of this clan." Holding out a hand towards Kimi, Lord Araël gestured, "Kimi and her twin are both descendants of Kazuhiro and Kazuhiko." The interface then showed hundreds of twins standing side by side (save for Kimi and her mysterious twin brother). Hay Lin noticed that most of them were sets of identical twins and the overall majorities are males. Whether or not they were male or female and identical or fraternal, they all shared the same elemental symbols on their chests. It wasn't until then that Will and her friends realized the symbol on Kimi's Guardian outfit was in the shape of the white curved tear-shaped drop of the yin and yang symbol…an everlasting emblem that matched Kimi's ancestors.

"So if Kimi's your Guardian of Light," Orube began, "then that means her missing brother is the Guardian of Darkness and your liaison as well."

"Correct, Warrior of Basilíade," Verlona nodded. "The older twins are always Darkness and their young siblings are always Light. It has been that way since the first Twin Guardians."

"Speaking of which, there is still the matter of your insubordination," Lord Araël interrupted. He stepped forward and looked down at Kimi with a serious demeanor, but she didn't back down. "Our council summoned in you and your brother in this time of crisis, yet you've ignored our calls, Guardian of Light."

"Your presence here at this moment does not change anything," Lady Verlona agreed, clearly a bit furious with Kimi's disobedience. "Tell us why you didn't answer our calls."

"Pardon my rudeness, Lord Araël, but it was not Kimi's fault," Orube came to Kimi's defense. "Kimi didn't answer your convene as her twin is missing. She was trying to look for him when we ran into her in the Dark Forest Continent."

"Yeah, and if it wasn't for her help, we probably wouldn't have defeated that _tengu_," Hay Lin added.

What was anger and irritation now replaced by shock and disbelief on the Elders' faces. "The Guardian of Darkness is missing and his sister doesn't know where he is? This is not like him."

"Are you absolutely sure that you cannot sense his presence, Kimi," Lady Freyja asked. "You have a bond with your twin, surely you can—"

"If I could sense my brother's dark aura, none of you would be reprimanding me about now," Kimi pointed out their flaws with irritation. With her power over air, Hay Lin could tell that Kimi was just as much upset by her twin's disappearance.

"This is serious, it would explain why the Darkness is growing and threatening our powers over Light," Lord Araël said. Looking at Hay Lin, he asked, "Did you just say a _tengu_, Guardian of Air?"

Hay Lin nodded and stepped forward, holding out the three medallions from their battles. "It wasn't just the _tengu_, but we fought against the Tracker and Miranda on Metamoor, too. We've found these after they were disintegrated."

Yan Lin, Araël, and Verlona each grabbed a medallion and scrutinized them with great intensity and concerns.

"Please, don't punish the Guardian of Light," Elyon added. "If it wasn't for her, I would have been killed."

"There will be no punishment, Your Majesty," Lord Araël assured her. "After the Guardians have just discovered the cause of our problems, I see no reasons to."

Holding up her medallion, Yan Lin asked, "Did you girls felt any strong, negative emotions when you fought against these monsters?"

Will nodded. "Not only that, but each of them seems to be accompanied by some sort of strange, colored mists. Kimi sensed their auras with her magic. When that ox-demon in the park attacked me, I suddenly felt an overwhelming feeling of drowsiness and exhaustion. It was as if I couldn't have the will to fight."

"When we got attacked by Karaten, Irma and I suddenly felt rage towards each other and the same must have happened to Caleb and Vathek when they faced the Tracker."

"And the Browns suddenly felt hungry after that spider-girl induced them with a green mist," Irma remembered. Glancing at Elyon, she asked, "You said you've felt the same when Miranda attacked you, right?" Elyon nodded.

It was then that Kimi spoke up. "The sources of their increased powers came from sloth, wrath, and gluttony. I can still sense a lingering aura from each of those monsters you've all faced mixed with your own."

"It appears we've found the answer," Oracle Yan Lin replied gravely. Looking down at the charred medallion in her hand, she said, "The Seven Deadly Sins."

"The what?" Irma asked.

"What are these Deadly Sins, Grandma?" Ha Lin asked. She was almost as curious as the others.

It was then that Taranee decided to remind her friends about what they've learned from their recent history lesson. "The Seven Deadly Sins is a classification of abhorrent vices that were taught during the early few centuries in order to educate and instruct humans concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin. Mr. Collins just told us all about this in class two weeks ago."

"Impressive, Guardian of Fire," Lady Verlona complimented. "But the four monsters you've faced were not the main sources of the Sins of Sloth, Wrath, and Gluttony. One answer leads to more questions."

"Thanks to you girls, we now know _what_ is cause the Darkness to grow. But we don't know _who_ induced these monsters in the first place," Yan Lin explained. "And with only three sins so far, I fear that you will face the other four in the near future."

"I thought your job was to make sure that none of this would happen in the first place!" Irma retorted, pointing an accusing finger at the Gemini Councilmen.

"There was supposed to be one person who could have prevented this madness," Mathis explained. "The Prince of Darkness is the only one powerful enough to stand against any growing dark threats, but he is an elusive being and a complete enigma. Not even the Oracle or the Dream Seer knows of his identity."

"Except Kyochi-nii-san," Kimi whispered.

Hearing her, Araël nodded gravely. "Yes, only the Warrior of Darkness knows of the true identity and the whereabouts of the Prince of Darkness. However, with Kyochi missing, the Sins are taking an opportunity to strike."

"So what do we do?" Will asked. "How can we stop this new threat without Kyochi's help? We barely survived through four monsters today and that was exhausting!"

"You can't," Yan Lin replied simply. "For this mission, you will need the help of all seven Guardians. Since Kyochi is missing, Orube will be filling in his place. You must find him as well as the main source of these Deadly Sins. With our weakened powers, Lord Araël and I do not have the abilities to find whoever is behind all of this. It has been ages since all seven Guardians worked together on the same mission. But in order to succeed, you must all learn to work together as a team."

"Working with this crazy chick?" Irma pointed. "Yeah, right! Over my dead body."

"This is an insult!" Kimi objected. "I don't need any helf from these lily-livers. They were useless and weak against the _tengu_ and the _jorogumo_!"

"Hey, who was the one who roasted that spider to a crisp?!" Taranee pointed out.

"Only because you had Orube and me to help," Kimi retorted. "You were completely on a stalemate before that."

"You are so pretentious!" Cornelia added. "Who in their right mind chose _you_ as a Guardian is beyond me!"

"_**ENOUGH!"**_ Lord Araël's voice boomed throughout the hall, silencing their bickering without a heartbeat. "There is a dangerous and dark threat on our doorsteps and six of you must return to Lusteria constantly for your mission. It can only succeed if the five of you learn to work together with the Guardian of Light. To ensure this, I will have Kimi relocated temporarily to Heatherfield disguised as a transfer student from Japan."

"_**WHAT?!"**_ cried all six Guardians in shock.

"Like it or not, you will learn to fight together," Lady Verlona affirmed with an intimidating tone. "The six of you must establish a harmonious connection and the only way to do that is to interact socially everyday on Earth."

"Why must I be the one to leave my world and live on a planet filled with weaklings?" Kimi objected.

"Because Will and her friends have families who are not aware of their extracurricular activities as Guardians," Freyja explained. "Everyone in your clan and on Lusteria is aware of magic and the existences of Guardians. You can afford to live off-world for a mission as you've done before."

Kimi wanted to argue, but said nothing as she knew in her mind the plan was logical.

"You will not be alone," Yan Lin assured her. "Orube will join you and return to pose as a university undergraduate, Rebecca Rudolph. Since you two were so close, she'll also pose as your distant cousin. Orube is familiar with living on Earth before and can help you and the others."

"I will do as you wished, Oracle," Orube bowed respectfully.

"Well, at least we have someone familiar and more welcoming back into our group," Irma whispered to Cornelia.

What about our magical W.I.T.C.H. bus and Kandor?" Hay Lin suggested.

For this mission, you'll no longer need the bus and Kandor will return to his role as one of my councilmen."

"I'm gonna miss that guy and his red beard," Taranee commented.

Hay Lin giggled. "Ironically, you were the one who dreaded having him as our main caretaker in the first place, remember?"

"Personally, I think We is going to miss him the most," Cornelia suggested. "I hate to be the one to break the news to the little guy."

"Hey, at least he'll be happy to see Orube again," Irma teased.

"My allergies are looking forward to it," Orube commented sarcastically.

Lord Verlona shook her head. "For this mission, you will require a different caretaker, one who can be your mentor and can keep the six of you Guardians from killing each other with our backs turned."

"I don't need a babysitter!" Kimi insisted stubbornly. "Orube is more than enough."

"True, but Earth is nothing like Lusteria. In the eyes of this planet's authorities, you still have the physical appearance of a minor and according to their laws, you'll need a legal guardian."

_I hope that our new caretaker will be better looking than Kandor,_ Taranee mused.

Looking up at one of the tall thrones, Araël nodded. "Ngọc Long, if you'll please?"

The Guardians, Orube, and Elyon looked up to see a figure dissolving into a cloud of shimmering, green scales. Suddenly, it formed into a handsome, green Asian dragon. The girls gasped instinctively and the dragon playfully blew a small puff of emerald fire at them. It purred and uncoiled itself from its throne, landing behind the Oracle and the Dream Seer. Once its claws touched the ground, its dragon scales dissolved away to reveal a tall woman with long, dark hair and amber-colored eyes.

"This is Lady Ngọc Long, the Jade Dragon," Lord Araël stated as she bowed. "Ngọc Long is also from Lusteria, the Southern Fire Kingdom of Annam to be precise. What she had witnessed there throughout the courses of thousands of years as well as her understanding of the fragility of mankind will prove most helpful to your missions."

"Orube will help you in combat training and the Jade Dragon will deploy you on missions via communication with the Gemini Council," Lady Verlona added.

"I look forward into helping you on your quest, young Guardians," Ngọc Long smiled.

Yan Lin smiled. "I see no one more fitting to fill in Kandor's position."

Will, on the other hand, was a bit hesitant. "I…I don't know, Oracle. After everything that has happened today…it's so overwhelming! I mean, all of this," Will gestured with her arms to indicate the Gemini Council, Kimi, and their new Lusterian mentor, "is happening so fast! I'm not sure if we'll be able to get used to it."

"I understand your concern, Will," Yan Lin nodded. "But this new threat is nothing like we've ever faced before. I believe in order for you to succeed, you must be willing to embrace changes and new ideals. The first step is to have you work together with a new ally," she indicated to Kimi.

Will sighed and looked at her four friends. Most of them would rather fight without any new additions to their group. She glanced at Elyon and Orube and immediately remembered that these two were both rejected by her and her fellow Guardians. They didn't trust Elyon when she betrayed them and could barely stand Orube when she came to Earth. But despite the temporary disharmony, Elyon and Orube proved to be powerful and reliable allies with a strong heart and became their best friends.

_Perhaps Kimi could be the third ally that we need,_ Will thought. _I guess we have to start somewhere._

Will nodded and the Elders smiled.

"It is time for you to welcome a new Guardian into your fold," Yan Lin began. "Earth will now have a sixth Guardian who can shine her Light in this time of Darkness…"

"…And Lusteria will have five new Guardians to give aid to the Light and find the Darkness…" Lord Araël finished.

"All hail the new Guardians," Elyon praised.

_**To be continued in Chapter Two…**_

_**Cultural references:**_

_**The Tracker and Miranda were only one of the many villains created for the animated series of W.I.T.C.H. and they don't exist in the original comic series. I liked them both so much that I wanted to incorporate them into this chapter at the last minute.**_

_**A **_**Jorogumo**_** is a demon-liked creature in Japanese folklore where a spider monster entices men as beautiful women before devouring them. Miranda isn't really one but in Kimi's eyes, she is similar to the ones on her home planet.**_

"_**Hikari-hime" is just Kimi's nickname for Elyon. It means "Light Princess" in Japanese because Elyon is the Light of Metamoor.**_

_**Kimi's power over Light more resembles what the Green Lanterns and many other light controlling superheroes in the DC Comic universe can do.**_

_**I wanted to incorporate the history of Kandrakar, the Five Nymphs, and the creation of the Guardians into this story somehow. I felt it was a little bit unfair to see three Nymphs disappearing into the background while Xin Jing and N'ghala get more credit in the story. So I've decided to have the remaining three be the creators of the Gemini Council and the Twin Guardians.**_

_**Oneide's **_**Jewel of Life**_**, Téa's **_**Heaven's Revolution**_**, and Ebla's **_**Moonlight Justice **_**are my interpretation of the **_**Three Sacred Treasures of Japan (The Imperial Regalia of Japan); **_**the Jewel, the Sword, and the Mirror. They will play a significant role later on in the story.**_

_**The Seven Deadly Sins are more rooted in early Christian times. I saw a lot of great potential should the Guardians ever come face to face with the Seven Deadly Sins themselves.  
**_

**Nii-san**_** means "older brother" in Japanese. Kyochi Watsuki is Kimi's older twin brother.**_

"_**Ngọc Long" means Jade Dragon in Vietnamese. It's usually a male's name rather than female. **_


	4. Brave New World pt I

**W.****I.****T.****C.****H.****D****r****e****a****m****s**** o****f****L****u****s****t****e****r****i****a**

**By Galistar07water**

_**Disclaimer: W.I.T.C.H. is owned and copyrighted by the Walt Disney Company Italia and is in no way affiliated with the fictional works of Galistar07water.**_

_**Author's note: If you would like to see drawings of W.I.T.C.H. Dreams of Lusteria, please visit my page and click the "W.I.T.C.H. Dreams of Lusteria" folder in the gallery section.**_

**_Chapter 02: Brave New World pt. I_**

"Taranee!" Lionel called at the top of his lung one Wednesday morning. "Breakfast is ready!"

Taranee Cook sneezed as she adjusted her glasses. She looked around to make sure that she hasn't forgotten her homework that was due that morning. "Where's my report?" She scuffed around and went to her computer table. "There it is!"

"Taranee!" Teresa Cook called. Despite Taranee's good grades, Teresa wished that her daughter would stop making her remind her to come down to breakfast all of the time. "Hurry up! Your breakfast is getting cold and I'm getting tired of yelling at the top of my lungs!"

"Coming, Mom!" Taranee replied, running down the stairs. Her father greeted her with a morning kiss before continuing to read his newspaper with a cup of coffee.

"Morning, sugar plum," Lionel said.

"Morning, Mom and Dad," Taranee replied. She grabbed her toast and headed straight out for the door. "I gotta go!"

"So soon? But you still have another hour to go," Lionel asked.

"Sorry Dad, I gotta meet up with my friends," Taranee winked. She ran for the door before her mother could stop her, but when she opened it, her path was blocked by a Japanese woman in a suit.

"Oh, going somewhere?" said the woman.

"Mmmufufph?" Taranee asked and realized that her toast was still in her mouth. She was trying to ask who the woman was and why she was here.

"Konan, you're here early!" Teresa smiled, appearing behind her daughter. "This is my daughter, Taranee."

"_Ohayo_, Taranee-chan," the woman greeted.

Swallowing her toast, Taranee returned the greeting. "Nice to meet you, ma'am. Um…why are you here?"

"Taranee, this is Ms. Konan Kishimoto," Teresa said. "She's an attorney. She came to see me on a recent court case matter. Do you have the papers, Konan?"

"Yes, the evidences are all here for you to issue us a warrant," Konan nodded.

Taranee sighed. _Another one of Mom's court business matters_, she thought. Teresa Cook is a judge who usually handles cases on juvenile delinquents. No doubt that this Konan Kishimoto is another lawyer seeking her mother's permission for a warrant.

"Well, I'd better get going," Taranee said. "I'm meeting up with my friends early at school to discuss something." She waved and quickly got passed Konan and ran for Sheffield Institute.

* * *

"Really? I'm speechless!"

"I know, Matt," Will agreed, holding her boyfriend's hand as they both continued their early morning walk to school. "Monsters inducing one another with Sins, the Gemini Council, Lusteria, and new Guardians all in one day!"

"To think the Oracle never told us that there's another branch of power," Matt frowned. Obviously he didn't seem too please with being kept in the dark about this. If there was one thing Matt hated, it was when people keep secrets from him. "He didn't even tell _me_…"

"And Kandrakar never told us about two other Guardians," Will added. "Kimi and her twin brother, Kyochi. We're trying to find the brother right now and the Elders told us we have to work with his sister to find him. This way, we can find the Prince of Darkness with his help. Only he can help us tip the balance back in order."

"Hmph, so what do you know of these new Guardians?" Matt scoffed.

Will shrugged. "Practically nothing on Kyochi except the fact that he's the Guardian of Darkness and only he knows the whereabouts of the Prince of Darkness." Will noticed her friends waiting across the street and waved to them. "As for his sister, Kimi…well, she's not the friendliest person you'll meet, despite her element being _Light_ and all. She tried to kill us when we first met."

"What?!" Matt turned, surprised. "She tried to _kill _you? What kind of Guardian is she?"

"My thoughts exactly, Matt," said Irma. Matt and Will turned to see that they've finally crossed the street and were already on the Sheffield Institute campus. The other four Guardians were waiting on the grass.

"Seriously, first she saved us from that _tengu_ thing, then she trapped us in a dome made of hard light and tried to kill us!" Irma waved her arms to gesture how large the dome was.

"Irma, calm down," Hay Lin said, putting a hand on Irma's shoulder. "It was a mistake. At least everything was cleared up thanks to Orube's help."

"And besides, Kimi's on our side, too," Will added.

Matt, on the other hand, continued to look confused. "I don't understand. You said that she tried to _kill_ you after _saving_ you? That doesn't make any sense."

"Matt, she tried to kill us because she thought we were imposters. She never knew that there were five other Guardians beside herself and her brother," Taranee explained. "Apparently, it had something to do with maintaining honor or something. At least that's what Orube told me yesterday."

"So Rebecca's back?" Matt raised an eyebrow with an interest. Irma took this opportunity to elbow him teasingly.

"Don't even think about it, Matt," Irma grinned.

"Yeah, remember you're _my_ boyfriend," Will reminded him. Matt scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, she and Kimi are both staying with Lady Ngọc Long, our new caretaker."

"Since Mrs. Rudolph's old house has a new owner and the _Teach 2b W.I.T.C.H._ bus is gone, we'll be having a new headquarter at their house."

The group began to walk towards the building as they continued their talk.

"By the way, where is Kimi?" Will asked her friends.

Taranee nodded her head towards the principal's office. "In Knickerbocker's office to see which classes she'll be taking for her cover up."

"I hope she's not going to be in our class," said Irma sourly. "I don't think I can stand hearing her criticizing us for being _weak_ Guardians again."

"Urgh! Tell me about it," Cornelia agreed. "Her attitude is driving me nuts. I mean, seriously! Who does she think she is? Just because she managed to help us take down the _tengu_ and Miranda with ease does not make her better than us!"

"Yeah, she's not the only one who knows martial art," Irma added. "Right, Hey Lin? You should show her some of your judo moves."

"I'd rather not use it to show off," Hay Lin commented. "And besides, I'm not exactly a black belt in it or anything."

"So this Kimi knows martial art, huh?" Matt asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm curious to see how skilled she is."

"Matt, don't even go there," Will shot her a warning glance. "Look, it's great that you've learned how to fight while in Kandrakar and all, but the last time you showed off your moves, you almost got your shoulders dislocated and your head pulled off by Liam!"

"Will's right, Matt," Hay Lin agreed. "I don't think it's such a good idea to provoke Kimi. She tried to kill us and caught us off guard. She could do the same to you."

Before Matt could object any further, the bell rang, signaling the start of the first class period.

"C'mon, Will," Cornelia said, grabbing her by the elbow. "First period is history with your step-dad."

"Coming, Cornelia," said Will. Turning back to her boyfriend, Will said, "Don't worry about it, Matt. You'll get to meet her soon enough at Lady Ngọc Long's house. We're going to discuss about our next mission there. You're welcome to join us."

Once the girls were out of sight, Matt walked toward his class. He passed by Principal Knickerbocker's door and saw a silhouette of her talking to a girl with long, wavy hair.

"Hmph," Matt smirked to himself. "We'll see what you're really made of, Light Guardian," he whispered.

Had Matt lingered by the door a little longer, he would have noticed Kimi's silhouette turning to face his direction instantly as if she had heard him.

* * *

First period was history class with Will's step-father, Mr. Dean Collins. While Irma, Taranee, and Hay Lin headed for math class with the dreaded Mr. Horseberg, Will and Cornelia followed Mr. Collins and sat down. When they entered the classroom, everyone was talking with excitement.

"Hey, did you see her?" said one student.

"Who?" asked the other.

"You mean you haven't heard?" the Grumper sisters, Courtney and Bess exclaimed.

"Heard what?"

"We're going to have a new transfer student!" said Bess Grumper.

"Yeah, and she's, like, from the other side of the world or something!" Courtney added.

"Is she cute?" Uriah joked.

"Who cares? I heard that she's a distant relative of Mrs. Rudolph!" said Courtney.

"You mean our old math teacher?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, maybe she'll be a math geek like Taranee Cook!" The Grumper sisters broke into laughing fits.

"Great, another victim for us to check out," Uriah laughed. Turning to his friends, he said, "Let's have some fun with the new girl later. Maybe we can make her cry home!" Will and Cornelia both shook their heads and rolled their eyes.

"Okay, settled down, class!" said Mr. Collins as he cleared his throat. "That means you, too, Uriah. Or should I send you to the principal's office again for disrupting my class?"

"No need, Mr. Collins, because I'm already here," said Knickerbocker as she entered the room. Adjusting her glasses, the principal turned to face the class and they all settled down. "I suggest to Mr. Dunn and his friends to sit down in their seats because I have a special announcement."

"A special announcement?" Mr. Collins asked curiously.

"Yes, Mr. Collins," the principal nodded happily. Turning her gaze back on the whole class, she continued her speech. "Everyone, I would like to inform you all that Sheffield Institute have been contacted by one of our overseas sister schools. They're sending one of their students here to attend our prestigious academy. I am pleased to welcome our new transfer student from Tokyo, Japan…Miss Kimi Watsuki." Turning to the door, she nodded. "Come in, dear, and introduce yourself to the class."

"Oh, great," Cornelia grumbled. _Kimi's going to be in _our_ class?! This will be fun!_

Kimi walked in stoically, wearing what appeared to be a modern day Japanese school uniform. The other students stared at her with interest. She bowed respectfully to Mr. Collins and greeted, "_Ohaiyo gozaimasu, Sensei_." She then turned to face the class.

"Wow, she is cute," Uriah whistled under his breath.

"And kinda stylish," Bess whispered to her sister. "Obviously, the new girl knows more about class than our Corny here." Both girls giggled. "Even if it is a uniform."

"What did you say?" Cornelia spat.

"Everyone settled down, now!" Mr. Collins ordered. Turning to his new student, he said, "Welcome to history class, Kimi. I'm Mr. Collins. You're welcome to sit anywhere you like."

"_Hai_, Collins-sensei," Kimi nodded.

There were a few empty seats including the ones next to the Grumper sisters, one next to Uriah's desk, and one way back in the corner of the class behind Cornelia and Will's place.

"Sit next to us!" Kurt said.

"There's an extra spot here," Courtney smiled. "We could use a third member in our clique."

Ignoring them, Kimi strode past them all and took the lonely desk in the back corner, isolated from the rest of the class. Once settled, she glared at the back of Will's and Cornelia's head.

_Oh, great!_ Cornelia thought. _I suddenly feel cold with her icy glare._

"Well, looks like we're not the only one who has the same dislike for those girls, right, Sis?" Bess whispered to her sister with glee.

"Well, then," Principal Knickerbocker began. "Now that that's settled, I hope that you'll all make Miss Watsuki feel welcome in our school. Now, then, Mr. Collins, proceed with your lesson."

"Thank you, Principal Knickerbocker," Mr. Collins replied as she left. Turning his attention back to Kimi, he said, "And if you have any question, just ask me, okay, Kimi?"

"_Hai_, sensei," Kimi replied, flipping through the history textbook with a bored look.

Collins sighed. He wasn't sure if she could understand him because he hadn't heard her reply anything back in English. _Is she an English language learner?_ He thought. _If she were, why didn't Principal Knickerbocker gave me the info on it?_

"Is everything alright, Kimi? Because if you do have any problems understanding the lesson, perhaps Will or Cornelia can help you," Mr. Collins suggested.

Looking up, Kimi replied without any Japanese accent, "_Hai_, I can understand you fine, Collins-sensei. I don't need _their_ help." She shot another glare at Will and Cornelia's direction.

"Like I want to help you in the first place," Cornelia whispered under her breath as she decided that the words in her text were more interesting than Kimi's snide remark.

"Oh, very well, then…" Mr. Collins cleared his throat. Turning back to the board he wrote a few sentences on the side and flipped the book open. "Now, everyone turn to page 107 and we'll be discussing the new chapter on French colonization in French Indochina."

* * *

Needless to say, Kimi's arrival as the new transfer student had caused a buzz among the student bodies of the school, much to the W.I.T.C.H.'s annoyances.

"Urgh, it's bad enough that she's getting on my nerves," Cornelia objected to Will during math class, their last period of the day. "Seriously, what's so special about Kimi anyway?"

"Well, she is supposed to be a transfer student from Japan," Will whispered back. "I guess because this school hasn't had anything exciting since our last cultural exchange program. Remember when Erin came here with all of those other foreign kids?"

"How could I forget? She tried to use her magic against us because Tecla convinced her that we were Ragorlangs," Cornelia snapped back.

"Ahem!" Mr. Horseberg cleared his throat. "Miss Hale! Is there something you would like to share with the rest of my class?"

Cornelia raised her hands in defense as the class laughed at her. "No, sorry. I was just clearing my throat!"

Mr. Horseberg sighed and shook his head. Turning to face the rest of the class, he held up a finger to remind them, "Before you go, remember to turn in your assignments next week. I'll be testing you on the fourth chapter in the trigonometry book. And Miss Watsuki," he turned to Kimi as she was about to get out of her seat, "if you have any trouble understanding the lesson, you can see me after class…or one of your classmates can help you around."

"_Hai_, sensei. I'll keep that in mind," Kimi answered stoically.

"Hey, you can ask me for help!" said a boy named Douglas.

"No, way! She can have my notes!" Uriah jumped in.

"What notes? You're always goofing off in class!" Cornelia retorted.

"Who asked you, ice queen?" Uriah snapped at her.

"Hey, Kimi! What's it like in Tokyo?" asked another student following her out the door.

"Yeah! Do you get to play all of those awesome video games? And read those manga series?"

"Do you know any good ones?"

Turning to face them, Kimi shot them an annoyed look and said, "Do you children even know how to get lost? Leave me be or so help me, I will make the rest of your school term a living nightmare," Grabbing her books, she headed for the exit, leaving the boys dumbfounded by her sudden hostility.

"Don't pay them any attention," said Bess as she and her sister followed Kimi out to her assigned locker. "After all, they're just geeks. If you really want to snatch a cutie, you'll just have to follow our advice."

"And pray on the Jade Emperor's throne, do _you_ girls know anything about boys?" Kimi asked coldly, putting her books away and taking out another. Courtney ignored her rudeness.

"Well, plenty, of course!" she smiled, proud of herself. "Bess and I are both in charge of the school's newspaper, especially the gossip column."

"You don't say?" Kimi mused, unimpressed.

"Yep, and we know everything there is to know about who's hot and who's not," Bess nodded.

"And who's part of the in crowd and who are the geeks and losers, and which kid to avoid."

"So since you're new here and all, you're automatically on the _In-Crowd_ list."

"I'm so honored," Kimi replied sarcastically, but apparently the Grumper sisters aren't catching it.

"And if you want some tips, just follow our advice," Bess clasped her hand in excitement. "Because we can tell you who to avoid so that you can still be cool."

"Yeah, for instance, you might want to avoid _those_ girls," Courtney sneered, glancing at Will and Cornelia as they are joined by Irma, Taranee, Hay Lin, and Sheila Jensen. "Seriously, their little clique is soooo lame."

"Is that so?" said Kimi.

"Yeah, like Cornelia Hale, the blonde one who sat in front of you during history class," Bess pointed, "she thinks she's so perfect, but she's all talk."

"She may be an ice princess when it comes to ice-skating, but she's totally a snob and thinks whatever she wears will make her more pretty," Courtney laughed. "She's soooo pleased with herself with whatever she wears!"

"And have you seen the clothes she wore last month?" Bess asked. "Another one of Hay Lin's design. She thinks she's a great designer, but have you seen her clothes? Only an extinct animal like Hale or the rest of them would wear her dumb designs!"

The girls burst into laughing fit. Had they paid attention, the other five Guardians and Sheila were now within ear shot. Hearing their last comment, Hay Lin gulped and flushed. Sheila placed her hands on her friend's shoulder, trying to comfort her.

"Don't listen to them, Hay Lin," said Sheila. "Your designs were wonderful. Everyone at my dad's dancing school think so, too."

"Oh, yeah right, probably because you, Cook, and the rest of your dancing circus clowns ran out of tights and tutus!" Courtney commented.

"What did you say?!" Taranee fumed, fire burning in her eyes. "Say that again, I dare you!"

"Oooh, be careful, Sis!" Bess jumped back, pretending to be afraid. "The dancing queen is about to blow!"

"Cool off, will ya, Cook? Or else you'll blow the whole school's roof off!" Courtney replied. "If Sheila's daddy here sees you blowing a casket off now, he'll probably demote you from being an assistant dance instructor because you have no patience with your students!"

"I'll show you patience, Grumpers!" Irma rolled up her sleeves, but Will and Sheila stopped her.

"Stop it, Irma," Sheila said. "You're not helping."

"You're only giving them more thrills," Will added.

"Of course she would," Courtney agreed. "After all, Irma's only other skill is to entertain us since she's so bad at passing her classes with an average grade."

"Why I'm gonna—"

"See? What did we tell you, sweetie," Bess glanced at Kimi. "Just follow us and we'll show you the ropes around here."

"So, are you in?" Courtney asked.

"Kimi, if you join them, I swear I'm gonna—"

"Do what? Vandom's right, because you're not helping your own cause," Kimi replied. Irma wanted to say something else but she couldn't think of anything. Glancing at her friends, she noticed how worried Taranee and Hay Lin looked and realized that if Kimi joined the Grumper sisters, there would be no end to their torment at school.

"Now you're getting the hang of it, Kimi," Bess smiled with glee. "Trust me, you're going to love working on the gossip column with us and—"

Before she could finish, Kimi glanced back at her and interrupted, "I'd never said that I would join your newspaper group. However, you're right on something; these girls are _geeks_, as you call it here, and I should avoid them."

"Right, and you—" Courtney agreed, but Kimi cut her off.

"But I'm not going to. In fact, I've already found two new _baka_ girls to avoid even more—" slamming her locker shut with a loud bang, Kimi glared at both the Grumper sisters and pointed an accusing finger at them, "You!"

Dumbfounded, the Grumper sisters stumbled on their reactions. Will and her friends were also surprised.

"Now wait just a moment here, I think you're getting on the wrong foot. Do you know who we—"

"I know perfectly who you two are," Kimi replied icily. "You're nothing more than a pair of wooden lily-livers with sandpaper tongues in your mouths since you can't help but spout meaningless hearsays on others. Your lives must be really _sad_ and _pathetic_ because you cannot find any useful skills other than spreading childish gossips for your own pleasures. Why don't you go make yourselves useful by leaving me and these other lily-livers alone and go drop in a ditch?"

Flabbergasted by Kimi's sadistic comment, Bess grabbed her sister by the arm and dragged her away. "C'mon, Courtney, let's forget about the new girl. We were wrong about her 'cause she's not cool at all!"

"You'll be sorry about this," Courtney warned her. "You'll be sorry for making enemies of us! You're a _loser_ like the rest of them and a _witch_!"

The girls watched the two sisters walking away and realized that there was a small crowd around them. Apparently, their fellow classmates caught most of Kimi's criticism.

"What are you all looking at?" Sheila challenged. "Go on! Scram! There's nothing else here to watch!"

"I don't need your help, girl," Kimi said, walking away.

"Geez, you're welcome," Sheila replied sarcastically.

The crowd began to disperse, but then Uriah and his two friends came up on their skateboards, forcing the students to jump out of the way as they rolled for the exit.

"_**HEY! NO SKATEBOARDING IN THE HALLWAY, URIAH!" **_cried the hall monitor.

"Yeah, and what are you gonna do about it?" Uriah challenged, laughing as he and his friends knocked a couple of kids' books to the floor as they passed by.

"Why that Uriah," Irma waved a fist. "Taranee let's melt their wheels and—"

_Forget it, I'm not using my magic, especially with Sheila watching and the hallway's packed! _Taranee mentally objected.

"C'mon, boys! Schools out and freedom is just outta that door!" Uriah cried.

Uriah and his goons were just about to make it towards the exit when they spotted Kimi in their way on the stairs to the outside. Uriah whistled to her. "Hey, baby! Outta the way!"

He was expecting her to turn around and jump out of the way like the rest of everyone when she spotted him. Kimi did turn around, but instead of jumping out of the way, she quickly swung a leg out at the rolling wheels, causing Uriah to fly off of his skateboard. She quickly grabbed him by one arm and performed a judo move and the next thing he knew, he was laying on the floor a few feet away from the stairs with Kimi still holding onto one of his arms, the twist immobilized him while sending small portion of pain receptors throughout his body. Kurt and Laurent skidded to a halt behind her and gapped at the scene.

"Ow…what just happened?" Uriah asked, his head spinning.

"The hall monitor says no skateboarding in the hallway," Kimi replied, letting him go.

"Ha! Uriah got beaten up by a girl!" Laurent pointed and laughed.

"Yeah, the new girl threw Uriah to the ground with a kung fu move!" Kurt joined in.

"Hey, shut up!" Uriah snapped, but his friends just kept laughing.

The five Guardians and Sheila made it out to the front of the school along with the other kids who were in the hallway with them. Once they heard Kurt and Laurent laughing, they joined in.

"Urgh! Stop laughing!" Uriah warned. Glaring back at Kimi, he said, "I thought you were kinda cute before, but _**NO ONE**_ makes a fool outta me! Laurent!" he called his big friend over. "Stop laughing and show the new girl who is boss around here."

"Sure thing, Uriah," Laurent smiled with glee like the bully he is and made a grab for Kimi's arm. "Sorry, baby."

To his surprise, she quickly grabbed his wrist with one hand and bended it at a slight angle, causing him to lean over. She quickly swept at his feet before throwing him to the ground with an aikido move.

"My name's not _baby_, it's Kimi," Kimi spat, letting him go. "And frankly, I've taken down guys bigger than you and your two friends. You're all nothing but fruit-cups to me."

"Oh, think you're so tough, huh?" Uriah objected. He and Kurt were about to throw more empty threats when the principal walked up with the hall monitor and the janitor.

"There they are!" said the boy who was wearing the hall monitor badge. "Uriah and his friends were skateboarding in the hallway and they were bullying the new transfer student!"

"Uriah! Kurt! Laurent!" Principal Knickerbocker hollered furiously. "In my office, now!"

The group of students started whispering as Uriah and his friends were led away to Knickerbocker's office forcefully by the hall monitor student and the janitor.

Will and her friends joined Kimi's side and caught, Uriah whispering, "I'll get you for this!"

Shaking her head, Will tsked to herself. "Well, I guess you don't have to worry about Kimi getting all the attention from you, Cornelia, because I'm betting she's about to become very unpopular by the end of today."

Sure enough, the students in the courtyard who witnessed how Kimi took down Uriah and his friend immediately backed away when she walked by. To add insult to injury, Courtney and Bess began to whisper how much of a brute Kimi really is.

"Careful, if you don't get on her good side, she'll chop you up with her karate!" one boy teased.

"It wasn't karate, you dope! That was aikido! Don't you know anything?" said a boy named Tommy.

"Whatever, but seriously, how can a girl like that take down two guys?"

"I heard that all Japanese kids like her are trained in the secret art of the monks since they were in diapers!"

"You watch too much kung-fu movies, Troy!"

"Think she'll join the school's martial arts club?"

"Kimi, wait!" Hay Lin cried, catching up with the Guardian of Light.

"What do you want, lily-liver?" Kimi asked, glaring.

"Well, first of all, you could at least call me by my name," Hay Lin retorted, putting both hands on her hip. "And second, you shouldn't stand out too much. You're attracting unwanted attention to yourself."

"I don't know, Hay Lin," Sheila added. "I mean, she did give the Grumpers a run for their money…in a twisted way, give or take…and she did show Uriah and his goons not to mess with her. I dunno, I kinda like that."

"Sheila, trust me, you don't know Kimi that well," Irma rolled her eyes. "Sure, she did show those guys a thing or two, but she's not the type of person you want to be friends with."

"You mean like me?" Sheila countered. "If memory served, I recall you and Cornelia not liking me that much either when I first came here with my dad."

"Yeah, but compare to Kimi here, you're practically an angel," Cornelia laughed.

"You girls aren't helping!" Will lectured. "Seriously, we're supposed to be showing Kimi around and—"

"Um…Kimi? Are you listening?" Taranee asked. Upon her question, the other four Guardians realized that Kimi had not reply to their banters with her usual condescending remarks. She was being a little bit too quiet as if she wasn't paying attention to them. "Hello? Kimi? What's wrong?"

Kimi continued to stare whatever it was in front of her out beyond the school's gate. Her face appeared to be dumbfounded as if she was seeing a ghost. "Nii-san?" she whispered.

"What?" Taranee asked. But before she and her friends could press Kimi further, the Guardian of Light made a dash towards the street recklessly. Will's eyes widen in shock and she raised a hand up trying to stop her.

"Kimi, no!" Will cried. "Don't cross the street!"

"What is she doing?!" Cornelia cried. "Is she crazy?!"

"We gotta stop her!" Irma said. "Before she gets run over by—"

Kimi didn't listen, too preoccupied with whatever caught her attention. She ran passed the school's gate and across the street. It was a green light for the cars and several of them skidded to a sudden halt to avoid hitting her. Horns blared but Kimi still paid no attention as her mind was dead set on catching up with whatever was ahead. This would prove fatal as one car in particular was inching closer. Its driver was none other than Will's step-father, Dean Collins.

"Yes, Susan, I'm on my way to pick William up from the daycare and Will's hanging out with her friends and—what the?!"

Dean gasped and immediately stepped on the break, but the car still made contact with Kimi. She only had less than a second to react. Kimi held up both arms to brace herself as the front of Dean's car rammed into her like a bull. She tried to keep her ground by planting both her feet into the asphalt. The force of the impact pushed her back still, and her dragging feet left a rut of ripped up asphalt on the road. For any normal human from Earth, the car accident would have sent the person flying with broken bones, but for a human from Lusteria, it's the car that's the injured party.

"_**KIMI**_**!"** Hay Lin cried, seeing Kimi slumped on top of the hood of Dean's car.

"Girls, this isn't good," Cornelia said. "Everyone's watching!"

"Kimi?!" Dean gasped, getting out of his car. "Kimi! Oh, my goodness, are you alright? Say something!"

Kimi groaned and shook herself to get up. She looked dazed and slightly bruised, but otherwise unscathed. Dean and the bystanders gapped in surprised.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you there," Dean said, coming over to Kimi's side to see if she was alright. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, but your car is, man," said another driver, getting out of his car. "That's impossible!" Glancing at Kimi, he asked, "How did you do that?"

"Kimi, do you have an explanation for this?" Dean asked.

Kimi didn't bother to answer them nor paid any attention to the gossiping crowd of spectators around them. She shook her head to clear her spinning mind and tried to focus on whatever was bothering her. Looking ahead, she nodded to herself, "There! He's there!"

She ran, jumping over several other cars and pushing pass other bystanders.

"Hey! Kimi, wait! I should take you to the hospital first!" Dean cried.

"C'mon, girls!" Will ordered. "We have to follow her!"

"Yeah, before she revealed to the whole city that she's an alien like Superman!" Irma commented.

"Hey, Taranee!" Sheila called, "What's going on? How did that happen? That wasn't natural! You know something about Kimi, don't you?"

"I—"Taranee began. "I can't tell you right now, Sheila. Sorry, but I gotta go!"

"No, wait!" Sheila cried as she watched Taranee disappeared with her four friends.

"What just happened?" Dean asked, scratching his head in confusion. He looked down at his car. It looked as if it had rammed itself into a three-foot thick brick wall rather than running over a person. "This isn't normal…"

"No, it's not," said a new voice, echoing all around him and the crowd. Dean turned around to see a woman with long, dark hair and amber-colored eyes standing behind him.

"Who are you?" Dean asked.

"I am Ngọc Long, the Jade Dragon," said the woman from Kandrakar. Holding up a palm of her hand, she held it out at him and the crowd of gathering people. "And what you've witnessed here is of no concern of yours. You humans cannot fully comprehend the physical strength and endurance of us Lusterians in comparison to yourselves."

"What are you doing?" asked the man next to Dean, his eyes getting sleepy.

The Jade Dragon smiled. "I'm here to erase all evidences. None of you humans will remember what you have just witnessed several minutes ago."

A flash of green light flooded the entire block, and the next thing Dean knew, he was standing next to his car (in perfect shape) and confused why he suddenly decided to get out and stand in the middle of the street.

* * *

_It's him! _Kimi thought, her heart pounding excitedly as she ran down the block. _It's Nii-san! He's here on Earth!_

Pushing her way through the crowd, she spotted a dark colored aura and reached her aura sensing magical ability towards it. The black aura flickered against her Light and she felt its similar feeling just like her brother's. Hope and joy danced in her heart. "Kyochi!" she called out. "Nii-san, wait!"

Although it was only Wednesday, the plaza was still crowded, full of people going about with their shopping and errands. Kimi pushed and forced her way through when a group was too thick for her. Ignoring the complaints from those people, Kimi spotted a boy with dark blue hair like hers and felt the black aura emitting from him.

"Nii-san!" Kimi cried happily, reaching for his arm. "Kyochi, where have you've been, I—"

"Um…hello?" said the boy, looking a bit surprised to see a strange girl grabbing his arm.

To Kimi's horror, it wasn't her brother. The boy was a bit older than her, most likely around Orube's age. He was handsome and his face was gentle, but Kimi's attention was more focused on his eyes because they were also blue like a Lusterian, but his aura tells her that he was born here on Earth…his black aura…so similar to Kyochi's own that it was uncanny. Disappointment claimed her heart as well as frustration.

"_Konichiwa_, I am Kishimoto," said the college boy. "_Gomen'nasai_, I know I have a cute little sister, but you don't look like her—"

The words "little sister" tugged at her mind. Furiously, Kimi shoved Kishimoto down. He dropped his instrument case and tripped over it.

"Shut up! You have no right to call me that!" she cried and ran away, leaving Kishimoto dumbfounded and confused.

* * *

"Urgh, where the hell did she go?" Irma complained. "Girls, can we stop for a bit? I need to catch my breath."

"Irma, you're such a slow-poke," Cornelia rolled her eyes. "Seriously, you should work out more."

"And dancing at Jensen Academy with you guys wasn't enough already!" Irma countered. "Sorry, it's just that I don't think it's fair that people from Basilíade or Lusteria can run more than me!"

"Girls, quiet!" Hay Lin hushed. Putting a hand behind one ear, Hay Lin used her power over air to listen for a specific sound. "I can hear Kimi's footsteps."

"Are you sure?" Will asked.

"Positive."

"Wait, I see her!" Taranee interrupted, pointing to a figure a few yards from them. "Kimi, wait up!"

Taranee and the others caught up with Kimi. Hay Lin placed a hand on one of Kimi's shoulders but the girl furiously slapped it away.

"Leave me alone, you lily-livers!" Kimi snapped.

Before Hay Lin could defend herself, Irma pushed her way forward and pointed an accusing finger at Kimi. Irma may be the spunky and laid-back girl of the group, but even she knew when to be serious.

"Are you absolutely crazy?" she demanded, her anger showing. "What the hell were you thinking? You ran across the street without looking for who knows what! You could have seriously been hurt!"

"I don't need you to be concern over me, lily-liver!" Kimi snorted in disdain. "It'll take more than your earthly vehicle to take us Lusterians down."

She continued to walk down the street towards her house (which was also the Jade Dragon's house). Irma and the other four girls followed suit.

"Who do think you are, Wonder Woman or Supergirl?" Irma continued. "The fact still stands that you running across the street was still reckless and dangerous. Maybe not to you or Orube but for us, it's a huge deal!"

"Hmph," Kimi scoffed, raising an eyebrow in annoyance.

"Listen, what Irma is trying to say is that people from Earth aren't…" Taranee trailed off.

"It's not my fault that you Earthlings are so weak," Kimi replied.

"You're unbelievable! Urgh!" Irma screamed. She ran in front of Kimi and stopped her in her trail. "You know what your problem is? You're a stuck-up princess! You're selfish, obnoxious, condescending, rude, unbearable, and anti-social! I don't care how strong you Lusterians are, but you nearly put our history teacher and those other drivers in danger! Not only that, but you nearly blew our cover! How the hell are we supposed to explain to a large crowd of people that you put a dent on Mr. Collins's car and tore up the asphalt of the road with your freakish super strength?!"

Kimi didn't say anything in return. Perhaps it was her power over Air, but Hay Lin felt that Kimi was still feeling upset about something. The Guardian of Air has a nagging feeling that Kimi was trying to hide it by being condescending to her and her friends right now.

"Um…Kimi? What's wrong? Why did you run away before? You looked pretty upset," Hay Lin commented.

"Yeah, you looked like you've just seen a ghost," Will added.

"Girls, why are you taking _her_ side?!" Irma demanded. "Don't you see that she nearly blew our magical cover today? Will, how are you going to explain to your step-dad what happened to him and his car tonight at dinner? Surely, he'll want an explanation for all of this!"

"Irma, we're not taking Kimi's side," Taranee reasoned. "Kimi wouldn't purposely try and reveal our magic secret or hers to the world unless it was for a real reason to do so. Whatever caught her attention before the accident, it must have been pretty big to get her to act like she did in front of the school."

Kimi sighed, staring down at Irma's shoes. Knowing that she can't hide it, she said, "Sorry, I thought I sensed something familiar…a black aura."

The other Guardians' eyes widen with confusion and curiosity. Like Will's special ability to talk to electrical appliances, Kimi's individual magic allowed her to see, sense, and read people's aura like a book.

"A black aura?" Will asked. "You don't mean it was…"

"Yes, I thought it was my brother's aura," Kimi closed her eyes and clenched her fists. "I actually thought Kyochi was here on Earth! But it wasn't him, just some guy named Kishimoto because his aura was so similar to Nii-san's!"

Will and her friends glanced at each other, feeling a bit lost at words. They didn't know what to say for obviously Kyochi meant a lot to Kimi because he was her twin, her closest relative. To believe he was actually here on Earth brought a glimmer of hope, but to have it shattered quickly because of mistaken aura reading had really made Kimi upset.

"Well, I'm sorry if things didn't turned out right," Will began. "But—"

"Why should you be sorry?" Kimi asked, walking away. "It wasn't your fault, lily-liver."

"Oh, c'mon! Seriously?!" Irma complained. Catching up to Kimi, she turned and began to walk backwards so that she can continue to face Kimi. "Will was trying to show you some sensitivity and understanding. Why can't you be more respectful to that and—Wah!"

Suddenly, Irma tripped and bumped into an older guy who was turning around the corner, causing him to drop a guitar case.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" said the boy.

"Sorry," Irma apologized. Will ran up to them and offered to pull Irma up.

"Irma, are you okay?" Will asked.

"Kishimoto!" Kimi glared at the boy they bumped into.

"Hey, you're the girl I saw at the plaza," said Kishimoto. He bent down to pick up his guitar case. "So these are your friends, huh? I'd say this one's pretty clumsy and can't tell where she's going."

"Hey!" Irma said. "I'm not clumsy!"

"Sure takes one to walk backwards," Kishimoto laughed. Glancing at Kimi, he continued, "Kinda like you since you mistook _someone I know_ for your own brother. Can't you tell the difference?"

"Shut up! I'm nothing like these lily-livers and you have no right to associate me with the likes of them," Kimi challenged.

"Yeah, you're walking home with them, aren't you?" Kishimoto asked. "Seems to me you girls are getting along fine."

"What do you know? You're just an annoying passerby."

"Says you," Kishimoto replied rudely. "At least I don't snap at someone because I made a mistake in identifying them."

"I should wipe that stupid grin off your face," Kimi warned, but Will pulled her back.

"Kimi, you're new here so you can't just go knocking people out if you feel like it," Will reminded her.

"You sound like a spoiled princess," Kishimoto criticized. Kimi glared at him even more. "What's the matter? Do you need your own servants to keep you in check, princess?" Kishimoto asked, mocking the Guardian of Light.

"What? Hey, we are NOT her servants!" Cornelia objected. "I'll have you know that I wouldn't be caught dead stooping to that level, you jerk!"

"If you girls can't even tell that I was joking, then you must be more stupid and naïve than I thought," Kishimoto replied.

"What did you say?!" Irma demanded.

"Cornelia! Irma! Kimi!" Will raised her voice, irritated. "Forget this guy, and let's just go. Rebecca's waiting for us, remember?"

"Fine," Kimi replied as she pushed her way pass Kishimoto. He glanced at her and they both exchanged glares. "Drop dead," she spat.

"Nice to meet you, too," Kishimoto replied sarcastically.

"That's the guy you ran into at the plaza?" Hay Lin asked, looking over her shoulder to see Kishimoto moving on with his business. "You mistook his aura for Kyochi's."

"No, I did not!" Kimi retorted, still irritated by what the older boy had said to her.

"Oh, don't deny it," Irma said. "He clearly was pushing your buttons as well as ours. Seriously, I have never met a guy who is so…annoying!"

"That insensitive jerk," Cornelia said. "Who does he think he is talking to us like that?"

"Hah, seems to me that Kimi and that Kishimoto guy have a lot more in common; they both annoy you girls," Will teased. Cornelia and Irma exchanged sour looks.

They finally made it towards Kimi's house and saw Rebecca sitting in the front porch with a book on her lap. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you two were getting along quite well," Will continued to tease.

"I hardly find your joke amusing," Kimi glared. "Say it once more and I'll rip your tongue out, lily-liver."

"Again, with the name," Irma rolled her eyes. "Can't you call us anything else besides 'lily-livers'? It's getting old."

"If you do not like _lily-livers_, then I'll have to call you _fruit-cups_ instead," Kimi scoffed.

"Man, I can't stand you!" Irma snapped. "It's already bad enough that you blew our cover earlier. And speaking of which, how are _**YOU**_—" Irma turned and pointed a finger at Kimi, "going to explain to the whole school that you survived a car crash? By tomorrow, we'll be bombed with questions and the last thing I want is to have those annoying Grumper sisters finding out our secrets!"

Orube looked up from her book. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Nothing that concerns you, Orube-neechan," Kimi said, making her way into the magical house.

Orube frown and shook her head, "When it has something to do with you getting along with these five girls, it does concern me, Kimi," she replied firmly. "Now out with it."

Kimi sighed in annoyance as if she was being reprimanded by an older sister. With all seven of them in the living room, Kimi sat down and allowed Will to retell the story. At times, Irma interrupted by adding in her parts, much to Will's annoyance.

Orube listened patiently and finally faced Kimi. "So you accidentally caused all of that mess because you thought you've sensed Kyochi's black colored aura?" Orube construed. "Kimi, I know Irma's a pain but she's right, you have to be more careful here on Earth."

"Gee, thanks for the lovely support," Irma rolled her eyes when Orube called her a pain.

"Shh!" Hay Lin reprimanded, placing a finger to her lip to silence the Water Guardian.

"Look, the physiologies of both Lusterians and my people from Basilíade are different from Earthlings," Orube lectured. "Compare to them, we're physically more powerful and can endure more damages and pain inflicted onto our bodies. When I was here as Rebecca Rudolph last time, I also had to keep most of my strength and abilities in check and I would advise that you do the same, Kimi."

"What you are asking me is to not be myself," Kimi objected.

"I'm not asking you to fully hide your strengths and your discipline in the martial arts," Orube explained. "I am suggesting that you should do what I'm doing when I am here as a visitor on Earth."

Kimi folded her arms and began to remember what her elders had always taught her and her brother since they were little. Kimi nodded and sighed, "I see, you're saying that the two of us should not show the full extent of our abilities in front of non-magical beings. Fine, I get it, but I must repeat that I had not expected to be hit by that car. You cannot blame me for that accident fully."

"That's right," Irma remembered her argument before. Turning to Will and Kimi, she asked, "How are you going to explain to Mr. Collins of the whole incident?"

"They won't have to," said a voice. The girls looked up to see Lady Ngọc Long appearing from a burst of green fire and dragon scales. Rather than wearing her Gemini Council robe, the Jade Dragon was wearing what seemed to be a green Vietnamese _áo dài_ with an embroidered dragon on the front. "I have wiped their minds clean. None of them shall remember the accident they have seen today."

"Well, that's a relief," Taranee said.

"I thank you, Guardian of Fire," Ngọc Long nodded. Extending her arms in a welcoming gesture, she said, "And now that we have finished clearing that matter, I welcome you and your four friends to our humble home. As you may know, Lord Araël and the Oracle have appointed me as your mentor and to prepare you to challenge the oncoming threat from Lusteria."

"So it's true, then? No more magic bus?" Hay Lin asked, sounding a little bit disappointed. "No more Kandor and teaching magical kids? I'm going to miss having Kandor driving us to those worlds."

"Do not be disappointed, Air Guardian," said the Jade Dragon, "for this house exist in a dimension between your planet and those others under Kandrakar's watchful eyes. From here, you may travel back and forth between Earth, Lusteria, Metamoor, Basilíade, and even Kandrakar. It is essentially the crossroad of the universe."

"So you're saying this house is like a magical airport only we don't have to board a plane to go to any of those places?" Irma asked.

"You will commute between worlds by the authorized portals located in any parts of this house and only under my supervision, Water Guardian," Ngọc Long replied. "This house will also serve as your new headquarter. Under this roof, you are all under my protections as I will monitor your training and strategies."

"When do we get to go back to Lusteria?" Cornelia asked. "I sort of want to see those floating mountains again."

"I am in contact with the Oracle and my fellow Gemini Council members," Ngọc Long explained. "Through them, I shall deploy you on missions when needed."

"Why can't we go back when we want to?" Will asked. "What if there's trouble there or in Meridian?"

"Your eagerness and devotion is admirable, Keeper of the Heart," said Ngọc Long. "However, due to the arrangements from Kandrakar's Elders, I cannot allow you to leave whenever you please, especially not without the company of Orube or Kimi. As you have experienced before in the Kingdom of Nihon, Lusteria is a very dangerous place."

"Great, looks like our new den mother is more serious than Kandor," Irma joked, whispering to a giggling Taranee. "Who better to have a cold-blooded reptile babysit us?"

"Although I am a dragon, I assure you, Guardian of Water," said Ngọc Long, smiling, "my blood is not as cold as you think."

Irma blushed with embarrassment for being caught insulting her. The others laughed. Kimi, on the other hand, decided that a part on the ceiling was more interesting.

"Irma, I know that our powers came from the four dragons and all," Hay Lin whispered back, "But we have a _real _dragon in front of us and trust me, you don't want to insult one, especially the kind that can breathe magic fire."

"Yeah, but you do know that my water magic can put out fire, right?" Irma countered. Before Hay Lin could retort, a column of water came down on Irma and Hay Lin yelped before jumping back in surprised. When it was over, Irma was dripping wet, dumbfounded.

"You should know that dragons are also creatures of the sea," Ngọc Long smiled with a playful grin on her lips. "We are also great beings of the earth and sky…do keep that in mind show me some respect. If not, I might accidentally drop you in a Hawaiian volcano."

"Noted," Irma replied, sniffing.

Ngọc Long nodded, and blew a green sphere of gentle fire. It danced around Irma without burning her as it magically dry her hair and clothes. With a snap of her fingers, the sphere died once its job was done. "Now that we have established the fundamental rules of respect, Irma, shall I now debrief you and your six friends of your next mission?"

Irma nodded. Will smiled and said, "Right, so last we were discussing about those medallions and—"

Kimi held out an arm to stop Will, keeping her eyes glued to a spot on the ceiling. Without turning to look at any of them, she said, "Don't speak, lily-liver, especially when we don't want a third party listening in on our plans."

"What are you talking about, Kimi?" Will asked, confused.

Without responding, Kimi quickly summoned light particles around her and manifested it into a construct in the shape of a samurai's pole weapon called a _naginata_. _**"THERE!"**_ she cried, and began to stab at the ceiling furiously.

"_**WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"**_ Cornelia cried.

"What's going on?" Hay Lin asked, totally confused at the sudden situation as her friends.

"We have a spy!" Kimi said. Sure enough, there was a tumbling sound above them as if a person was rolling around trying to dodge Kimi's blade. "Hold still so that I can get you!" she declared as she continued to stab at various places of the ceiling.

"Kimi, stop!" Orube called. "I recognize this smell, it's not a spy!"

Kimi ignored her, continuing her mad attempt to stab at the intruder. "It's my ambition to skewer a trespasser, especially the kind that sticks his rotten little nose in our business!"

"Enough!" Ngọc Long declared. She blew a ball of emerald blaze at the punctured ceiling. The fire quickly ate away at the weak structure of the wood that Kimi had caused with her stabbing. It gave way and suddenly a figure fell down with the debris. He let out a Wilhelm scream on the way down.

Kimi ran up to him and held him down with one foot, holding the tip of the _naginata_'s blade to his nose. "Move and you'll meet my blade faster," she warned. "Did you really think that I wouldn't notice your presence following me all day, Earthling? You really have some nerve."

"Who…?" Will asked, coughing as she tried to see through the dust. Once it was cleared, Will's jaw dropped in surprise at the spy. "Wait…MATT?!"

"Heh…hi, Will," Matt replied nervously, his eyes still fixed on Kimi's blade.

_**To be continued…**_

_**Cultural references:**_

_**In the comic and mini-comic, it's revealed that Hay Lin does know a little bit of judo. I did not make that up for this story.**_

_**An áo dài is a traditional Vietnamese outfit.**_

_**Ohaiyo gozaimasu, Sensei means "Good morning, teacher" in Japanese.**_

_**Baka—stupid/idiot in Japanese.**_

_**Although people from Basilíade like Orube and Lusterians like Kimi are similar in their strengths and martial art skills, it does not mean that they are both invulnerable nor are they as strong as Superman. If they do get hit by a truck, they can get injured or bruised.**_

_**Kishimoto will later play an important role in this story and yes, he does have a connection to Konan Kishimoto, the lawyer whom Taranee met at the beginning of this chapter. His name is a dedication to the creator of the **_**Naruto**_** series, Masashi Kishimoto.**_

_**Making everyone in school like Kimi is too Mary Sue. So like Sheila Jensen when she first came to Sheffield Institute in the comics, Kimi's condescending attitude and brute strength will eventually cause most students to avoid her out of fear and hate.**_

_**Matt Olsen had always been nosy in the Guardians' magical business ever since the fifth saga in the comic series. And every time he sticks his nose in, he always got hurt. Apparently, he still doesn't learn his lesson even in this story by following Kimi around just to see what she's made of.**_

_**A **_**naginata**_** is one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese swords in the form of a pole weapon. They were originally used by the samurai class of feudal Japan and are consisted of a wooden shaft with a curved blade on the end. Its appearance is very similar to the Chinese **_**guan dao**_** (used by the famous Guan Yu) or the European glaive.**_


	5. Brave New World pt II

**W.****I.****T.****C.****H.****D****r****e****a****m****s**** o****f****L****u****s****t****e****r****i****a**

**By Galistar07water**

_**Disclaimer: W.I.T.C.H. is owned and copyrighted by the Walt Disney Company Italia and is in no way affiliated with the fictional works of Galistar07water.**_

_**Author's note: If you would like to see drawings of W.I.T.C.H. Dreams of Lusteria, please visit my page and click the "W.I.T.C.H. Dreams of Lusteria" folder in the gallery section.**_

_**Author's 2nd note: I know that some people think that Kimi seems like a Mary-Sue in the previous chapter, but trust me, she's not. I've already explained it that in the W.I.T.C.H. series, every time the school gets a new transfer student, the other kids get excited about it, both in the comics and in the animated series. Just because Kimi seems "popular" at first, it doesn't make her a Mary Sue and neither does having super human strength or being a martial art practitioner. She's not the only one as Orube, a character from the comic series, also had super strength and is skilled in combat. Both Kimi and Orube comes from worlds where its inhabitants have those skills and abilities.**__**  
**_

**_Chapter 02: Brave New World pt. II_**

"So this is your heart mate, huh?" Kimi asked as Will continued to apply ointment to Matt's bruised forehead. "Frankly, I'm not impressed."

Will just wanted to hit Kimi so hard right now for trying to skewer her boyfriend with a samurai pole weapon made from constructed light. Yet, her attention was more focused on Matt who was sitting on the couch. After he fell through the ceiling, Orube and Ngọc Long held Kimi back from her intention to kill him then and there. The girls and the warrior from Basilíade explained to Kimi that he was an old friend and had been their trainer when they received their New Powers a long time ago.

"Matt, what were you thinking?" Will objected.

"I just wanted to know how skilled the Guardian of Light is," Matt explained, wincing when Will pressed too hard on one of his bruises. Glaring at Kimi, Matt sneered, "And because I have never heard of you before from Kandrakar, I don't trust you."

"Is that why you've been following me around since this morning at school?" Kimi raised an eyebrow. Matt starred at her blankly and she scoffed. "For your information, I've known that you were trailing me for hours, Matt-boy."

Orube and Ngọc Long snickered in unison.

"What did you call me?" Matt demanded.

"Matt-boy," Kimi folded her arms. "I just called you _Matt-boy_, or are your ear drums still ringing from the fall?"

Matt was starting to like this girl less and less. "Matt, my name is Matt! And I am no boy."

"Whatever, Matt-boy," Kimi replied condescendingly.

Matt got up at and was about to lecture her, but Orube placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered, "Forget it, Matt. Kimi is as stubborn as you can think. She will continue to call you whatever she deems worthy."

"How do I get her to stop?"

"Unless you can defeat her in a fight or until the day you've done something to earn her respect will she stops," Orube said, looking up at the hole in the ceiling. "But after what you just tried to pull off, I wouldn't recommend it right away."

Ngọc Long looked up at the hole in the ceiling. Her eyes glowed green and the next thing they knew, the entire room was back to normal.

The Jade Dragon looked back at the seven of them with piercing eyes. Matt could do nothing but stare at the Guardians' new caretaker. It was as if something about her was gripping him tight, warning him not to interrupt her.

Suddenly, two large interface screens appeared out of thin air behind her like the ones used by Lord Araël and Lady Verlona in Kandrakar. _Cool,_ Matt thought, thinking it as if it was from a superhero comic series with futuristic technologies.

"Now that there are no more interruptions…" Lady Ngọc Long began, snapping her fingers. "We shall discuss of your next mission, Guardians." One of interface screens showed a display of the charred medallions from the Guardians' previous fights. The other displayed an unfamiliar map. Luckily, they were colored and labeled. Will and her friends could see many countries and kingdoms, but the largest of all were the five in separate colors. The Eastern Air Kingdom of Nihon was colored in purple and there was a small dot near one of its mountain ranges.

"This was where you have fought against Karaten, the _tengu_ near the base of the Azure Dragon Pass," the Jade Dragon pointed to the dot. "And this is how much the Sins have spread so far." Several colored mists covered small parts of the five bigger kingdoms. Most of the smaller nations have been completely enveloped. "Now that we know the Deadly Sins are being inducted into spirits, demons, and Lusterian humans, the Gemini Council and the Oracle have been making attempts to track their process. As of now, we were able to detect only five of the seven Deadly Sins; Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, Lust, and Envy. Of the other two, we have no words."

"Where are all these Sins coming from?" Hay Lin asked. "I can't see any patterns to trail back to their sources."

"If the Sins are anything like the Black Plague, it should have a geographical source," Taranee noted.

"That will be your next assignment," Ngọc Long nodded. "You are to start in the city where you were supposed to go the last time before you left for Meridian…Edo. There, you shall investigate where those medallions came from."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Irma asked.

Holding out the medallions, Ngọc Long threw them at the Keeper and Will caught them in her hands.

"The designs on these medallions may lead you to your answer," Ngọc Long suggested. "Perhaps a scholar or a professor at the local university can help you."

"What about our other mission?" Kimi asked. "Do not tell me that we are not to look for my brother."

"I did not say such thing," Ngọc Long replied. "I believe that your brother is a medical student at the university, is he not?"

"Wait, he's still a kid but he's already a medical student at the university?" Taranee's eyes widen in surprised, clearly impressed.

"We can kill two birds with one stone," Will smiled. "Maybe we can find someone there who can help us find the sources of these Sins and see if anyone can give us a clue about Kyochi's whereabouts."

"Great, let's go," Cornelia said, getting off the sofa.

"Orube and Kimi will guide the five of you since they're both familiar with the large capital," said Ngọc Long.

The two screens disappeared as the six Guardians stood up and transformed themselves. Soon, Orube was also garbed in her red and fiery warrior outfit.

"Wait, I want to go, too," Matt insisted.

"No, Matt," Will shook her head. "I know that you were an honorable 'Captain' and all to Kandrakar, but Lusteria is too dangerous."

"But…" Matt objected.

"Stay and know your place, Earthling," Kimi sneered. "You are unwanted from this mission."

Before Matt could retort, Will shoved Kimi ahead before they could start another fight. Nodding to Ngọc Long, she said, "We're ready, Jade Dragon. Open the portal."

* * *

When they finally arrived, Irma was the first to speak. "Hey, girls," she started off. "Why was the portal in a closet?"

"Urgh, I do not like squeezing in there," Cornelia complained. Holding out a few strands of her blond hair, she tried to smooth them out. "Look at my hair! I am so telling our new caretaker to open a portal somewhere else whether she is a dragon or not!"

Will shook her head and tried to suppress her giggle. "Well, I guess the Jade Dragon does have a small sense of humor."

"You mean making my hair all frizzy is funny?" Cornelia demanded as the other girls laughed.

"Look on the bright side, girls," Hay Lin chirped. She pointed to what's in front of them. It appeared that they have arrived in an ally. Ignoring the garbage and the scurrying rats, Hay Lin pointed to the street ahead. "We've arrived right in the city. Let's go!"

"Good idea! This dark alley is giving me the creeps," Taranee agreed, looking around to see how damp it was. "What does Lusterians have against dry and warm places?"

Once Will and her friends stepped into the busy street, it felt as if they were in a film set. The streets were filled with shops and restaurants; some were like the Silver Dragon restaurant back home where the top floors were made into living quarters of the owners. There were no cars, only carts and carriages pulled by horses. The people where dressed in beautiful kimonos and yukata robes, although some were simpler and poorer than others.

"Sugar dates! Melons! Mangos! And watermelons!" cried a shopkeeper.

"Udon! Fresh udon! Come try our latest recipe!"

"Would the lovely lady like to buy this silk fabric?" asked a man behind them. Hay Lin turned to see that he was trying to sell her a beautiful green roll. "Come, and see. These are made from the Spirit silkworms of the Bamboo Forest! Imported from the Kingdom of Zhong-guo."

"They're from _China_, you say?" Hay Lin exclaimed excitedly. Holding it to her face, she squealed with delight. "They're so smoothed! I could just picture the prettiest outfit with this!" She looked at the other rolls on the stand and the ones propped up outside. "Oh, my gosh!" she gasped. She grabbed the light purple one decorated with intricate patterns of birds and clouds. "I've been looking for a fabric of this design for ages! It's perfect!"

"Wow, Hay Lin's definitely in heaven right now," Irma mused.

"You wish to buy this, lovely lady?" asked the shop owner. He clasped his hand happily. "I do have some more in my shop. Would you like to see?"

Before Hay Lin could say yes, Kimi grabbed her by the arm. "We don't have time for this nonsense, lily-liver. The university is up ahead and we still have our missions."

"But who knows when I'll be back?" Hay Lin objected. "C'mon, I have never seen any silks like these! They're even better than the ones back home! And who knows if I'll ever get the chance to shop here again?!"

Kimi sighed, seeing that Hay Lin was dead set on getting her way when it comes to the silk. "Fine! Make your purchase and let's go."

"I'll take the purple one, please!" Hay Lin smiled. "Make that two yards!"

"_Arigato-gozaimasu!_ The shop keeper bowed. He snapped his fingers and a pair of scissors flew from his pocket. The roll of fabric floated and magically rolled out two yards of purple silk before the scissor cut it down. "That will be four thousand and five hundred yen!"

"Hay Lin, that's too much!" Orube objected. "We don't have that kind of money with us."

Hay Lin widened her eyes, clearly forgetting about the currency. The shopkeeper eyed her suspiciously. "Um…wait, I think I have something here…"

"I don't think dollars count as yen here, Hay Hey," said Irma.

The shopkeeper was getting annoyed when he realized that Hay Lin didn't have the money. "What do you take me for? If you have no money, then what good are you to me? Get out!"

"But I…" Hay Lin protested.

"Here's your money," Kimi said, tossing him a bag of coin. "Now hand over the silk and we'll be on our way."

"_Arigato_," the shopkeeper nodded his head. Opening the bag, he began to count his money and smiled with great satisfaction. He handed the product to Hay Lin and went back into his shop.

"Are you going to carry that thing with you the entire time we're here?" Irma asked.

"Of course not," Hay Lin said. She snapped her finger and the fabric disappeared. "I'll just hide it somewhere safe until I'm back at my designing desk." Turning to Kimi she said, "Um, by the way thanks for paying. I'll pay you back somehow."

"Think nothing of it now," Kimi replied, turning her head towards a huge complex on the top of a hill. "We still have our missions to fulfill today."

Six of them spread their wings and flew while Orube ran through the streets. It was strange to fly through the city without being starred at by the people below. But then Cornelia and Taranee almost flew into something, and realized that they were not the only ones in the sky.

"Hey, watch it, you clumsy bird!" replied a floating girl who was holding an umbrella. "You humans never respect us rain spirits! Always flying wherever you please as if you own the sky!"

"Sorry," Cornelia frowned, trying to pass her.

"Honestly, why must I endure this every time I decided to go into the city? Serves me right for leaving the sanctity of my mountain." The rain spirit mumbled as she continued to float away.

"Cornelia, are you sleeping back there?" Irma called from way ahead. Cornelia didn't realize how far behind she was until she decided to put her wings into gear.

Once they were over the campus, the six Guardians landed in the quad where Orube was waiting for them.

"Welcome to the University of Edo," Orube announced.

"Wow, this place is huge," Will replied in awe.

"No kidding," Taranee agreed, adjusting her glasses. "I would love to see what courses they offered here."

"Hey, how come there are no girls?" Irma asked as she looked around. Sure enough, the students who were passing by tied up their long hair into traditional Japanese topknots, but it seems none of them are girls. A group of boys passed by and started to whisper to each other upon seeing Will and her four friends. One of them laughed too much and accidentally dropped his scrolls and books.

"They probably don't offer education for girls because they considered it improper during this time period. They viewed women to be put into the domestic line traditionally," Taranee explained.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid you're wrong, Taranee," said Orube. "I don't know how your Earth education system was run but on Basilíade, it does not matter if you are a girl or a boy. I was taught many things other than fighting by Luba when I was a child. We do not discriminate against genders and neither does the Lusterians in terms of education."

"So where are the female students?" Taranee asked.

"They're all on the east side of the campus," said Kimi. "Unlike your Sheffield, the schools on Lusteria forbid both sexes to interact in the same classroom. They considered it improper, especially for those who are already betrothed. The arenas are the only place where they are allowed to be in each others' companies for martial art trainings."

"Was that why those boys were laughing at us?" Cornelia asked.

"No, it's probably because they have never seen people with white or black skins like yours before," Orube replied.

"I'm guessing Lusteria is a very Asian planet," Hay Lin said. "But why name it 'Lusteria' anyway? Aside from all those other names we've heard so far, the planet's name doesn't sound Asian."

"We can discuss the history of this world later," Orube said. "For now, we have to concentrate on our missions and we've already been side-tracked enough as it is."

"So where should we start first?" Taranee asked.

"Let's split into two groups," Will ordered. "One group will go look for a professor who can help us identify the source of these medallions and the other group will ask around about Kyochi's whereabouts. Check to see if he had left anything behind that would be a clue."

"So who's going with who?" Irma asked.

"Hay Lin, Taranee, Orube, and I will be on one team," Will said. "Cornelia and Irma, you two go with Kimi."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Irma protested. "There is no way I am strutting around with the rudest and most condescending person on the team."

"Will, tell me you're not serious," Cornelia urged.

"Look, like it or not we have to work together," Will frowned. "I am in charged here and what I say goes!"

"Who died and made you leader, lily-liver?" Kimi asked. "For your information, I can do this without your help. I don't need you to have your little friends follow me around."

"Oh, really? Well if you hadn't needed our help, then why haven't you found your own brother by now?" Will challenged. "Don't try to hide it with all that talk, because I don't think you're as powerful as you claimed to be. If you can't follow my order, you're the one who's useless around here, not me or my girls."

"Nice one, Will," Irma cheered. Orube shot her a warning look. "What?" Irma asked.

Will's words seemed to have an effect on Kimi. She swallowed her pride and turned to leave. "Try not to fall behind," she said to Irma and Cornelia.

"Maybe I should go with them so that they don't accidentally kill each other," Taranee offered.

Irma and Cornelia followed Kimi and Taranee without any eagerness. As the rest of them watched the foursome go, Will turned to Orube. "Did I say something wrong?"

"As a matter of fact, you sort of did," Orube replied. She turned to lead them to a large building that seems to be the department for anthropology and history. "Of all my times training with Kinomoto clan here in Nihon, I've gotten to know a few of Kimi's maternal relatives. I believe the way you talked to Kimi back then reminded her of her kin."

"And that's bad because?" Will asked, clearly not seeing where this was going.

"Let's just say that some members of the Kinomoto clan are a lot worse than Kimi in comparison," Orube replied and urged the girls to leave it at that.

They arrived at the department of humanity and social science where students and scholarly instructors in history and anthropology walked about. Hay Lin didn't know whom to ask.

"How do we find the right person to help us?"

"We'll look for the professor in linguistic anthropology," Orube suggested. "Or a professor in ancient Lusterian history."

Turning to see several students sitting together with opened books ad scrolls, Will strolled over to them. "Hi, can you boys help us? We're looking for a professor who can help us identify the sources of these medallions." She handed them the charred relics.

The boys reached for the objects and began to study it. Looking up, one of them adjusted his spectacles and replied, "You must ask either Kobayashi-sensei or Atsuko-sensei. They are both experts in ancient deity languages and ancient civilization history."

"But don't expect much," said his friend. He gave Will back the medallions. "No one has seen either of them for weeks. All of their classes had been rescinded."

"Where are they?" Orube asked.

"We don't know," the third replied. "Since the coming threat of Darkness, they disappeared on an unknown mission. No one has seen either of them since."

"Is there anyone else who can help us?" Hay Lin asked. "Surely another instructor?"

The three men exchanged pondering looks. "Well, there is one person who could help you. Komei Kinomoto—"

"Chancellor Komei?" Orube's eye widened.

"_Hai_," they replied. "The Chancellor is visiting the university currently to monitor his son's academic and training progresses."

"He was just here this morning," said the first one with glasses. "If you are lucky, you might be able to find him."

"Much gratitude for your help, Lusterians," Orube replied bowed.

The three men nodded and returned to their studies as the three of them left.

"So who's this Chancellor Komei?" Will asked.

"He's a member of the Kinomoto clan and perhaps one of the greatest military tacticians of this kingdom," Orube explained. "He's also Kimi and Kyochi's uncle. A very humbled man who is always calm even in the face of danger. I have never met anyone as brilliant as him."

"So he's a genius?" Hay Lin asked. Orube nodded.

"How are we going to find him?" Will asked.

Orube smiled and tapped her nose. "I can remember his scent clearly. I'll be able to find him in no time."

Orube stopped and took a whiff of the air. Thousands of smells flooded Orube's nose, but her feline ability was able to distinguish and file through all of them in an instant, dead set on the most specific one. Finally, she caught it. "There." Orube pointed in front of them.

Will and Hay Lin followed Orube as they ran half way across campus, careful not to bump into the other students and faculties on the way. Orube stopped and spotted a man in front of her and called out to him.

"Chancellor Komei Kinomoto!"

The man in robes instantly turned around and smiled upon seeing Orube. He held up two hands and placed them together as he bowed.

"_Konichiwa_, Orube-san," he said. "It is a pleasure to see you again, even when the current circumstances is difficult."

"It is an honor to see you again, Chancellor," Orube bowed. "It is because of the difficult circumstances with the growing Darkness that the Guardians and I are here." Turning to face Will and Hay Lin, Orube gestured to them. "Allow me to introduce Hay Lin, the Guardian of Air and Will Vandom, the Keeper of the Heart and her leader."

Komei turned and bowed deeply to them. This only made Will and Hay Lin flushed with honor. "So it is true?" he asked. "The Fortress of Kandrakar does have five more Guardians. It is an honor to have you here in Nihon, Guardians. I am Komei Kinomoto. It has been my family's legacy to produced notable pairs of twin siblings to be the Guardians of Light and Darkness for generations."

"So you knew them?" Hay Lin asked in amazement.

Komei nodded. "My great-grandfather and his brother were the previous Guardians of Light and Darkness. It had been one of my greatest honors to served them years ago. Now I find it is a privilege to be in the presences of two more from a different world."

"Thanks, you're making us blush and…wait, time out," Hay Lin looked confused. "My grandmother was a Guardian before me. And if your niece and nephew are the current Guardians of your world, how can your great-grandfather be a previous Guardian?"

"My apologies, Air Guardian," Komei smiled, immediately identifying the Air symbol on her outfit. "The lifespan of my people are quite long in comparison to yours from Earth. Our last Twin Guardians lived to be two hundred and twenty lunar years old."

Before Hay Lin could ask him how old Komei was out of curiosity, Will spotted something in his hand. It was a large feathered fan.

"Why do you carry a fan when it's so cold out?" Will asked. "It must be autumn here on Lusteria, too."

Koumei chuckled as he fanned himself gently. "It helps me think and keep calm when I needed to be. It is the one habit that I refuse to give up."

"You remind me of someone," Hay Lin said suddenly. "I can't put my finger on it, but my grandma once told me of a man who wields a fan in ancient China."

"China?" Komei asked. "Is that your world's version of our Zhong-guo? I see that there are some things that our two worlds share in common other than having Guardians."

"Chancellor, the Jade Dragon and the Gemini Council have sent us on an important mission today," Orube urged as she and Will quickly explained to him their situation and why they needed his help.

The chancellor listened patiently and studied them before asking, "I am moved by your commitment, Guardians. I will be honored to help you in any way I can. May I see the medallions?"

Will was about to hand them to him when suddenly, the ground beneath their feet shook.

"What was that? An earthquake?" Hay Lin asked, jumping into the air to avoid the trembling earth.

Komei stayed calm and looked over his shoulder to the arena. Fanning himself, he tsked and shook his head. "It seems as if your fellow Guardians are in trouble."

* * *

The other four Guardians didn't mean to enter the fight in the first place. They were trying to head to the medical labs where Kyochi used to work. But to get there, they had to cross through the training ground. Once there, Cornelia, Irma, and Taranee were amazed at the hundreds of students practicing martial art moves in unison like an army. They followed the movements while instructors walked about checking on their stances and whipped those who got it wrong.

In a small section away from them were separate arenas for free sparing pairs, survival courses, and other brutal miscellaneous training. As they watched, they noticed a boy (around Matt's age, perhaps?) being blind folded as he took a horse stance in the middle of a large pool of water. Around him, three male students summoned their magic and threw giant boulders at him. The boy in the middle instinctively raised his arms and the water danced around him, slicing the coming targets before they could touch him. Unexpectedly, one of the three earth wizards hid an arm behind his back and gestured a rock on top of a hill to roll down as a surprised attack. Bigger than the other boulders, the rock rolled down at top speed, daring to crush the water wizard in its path.

"Look out!" Irma cried.

The boy ordered the water to strike it, but at its top rolling speed, the water bounced off of its surfaces and splattered into droplets. Having no choice, the water wizard only had a split second left to save himself. He quickly turned around without taking off his blindfold he abandoned his magic and smashed his fist against the giant boulder, relying on his Lusterian brute strength. Unlike what Kimi accidentally did to Dean Collins's car, this boy didn't dent the stone. He destroyed it.

"Impressive, Kenji-sempai," said one of the three earth wizards, grinning.

"You were lucky," said the second. "I was intentionally trying to kill you."

The boy, Kenji, smirked condescendingly as he took off his blindfold. "Don't count on it, Teppei. You'll never catch up to my level. Soon, I will be strong enough that even the Elders of Kandrakar will beg me to become a Guardian."

"Yeah, right!" Irma cried. "Over my dead body. There is only one Guardian of Water right now and that's me!"

Kenji and his friends turned around to see the girls. Cornelia and Taranee both shot Irma a glare for opening her mouth. Kimi, on the other hand, only had her eyes for Kenji. She folded her arms, hardly glad to see him. Kenji on the other hand, smirked with a wicked glint in his eyes.

"Well, well, well…if it isn't Kimi-chan," he declared. The other three earth wizards laughed. "Boys, the mighty Guardian of Light have decided to grace us with her presence," Kenji bowed mockingly. "We must show her how honored we are for we know how busy she is with her missions."

"Tell me, Light Guardian," Teppei asked, "What brings you back to Edo? Last I've heard, you were sent to live on that backwatered world of Earth with those filthy Earthlings."

"What's the matter, Kimi-chan? Was Earth too much for you?"

"That's understandable. After all, who would want to be stuck on a pathetic planet where those Earthling-scums infested the world with their ignorance?"

"Why I come back is none of your concerns, twinkle-toes," Kimi snarled.

"And who are you dirt-bugs calling us scums? I dare you to say that again!" Irma said. Obviously, she was upset as both of her hands were balled up in fists with magical water molecules glowing.

"Irma, don't!" Taranee warned, placing a firm grip on Irma's shoulder.

The boys turned their attention to the other three Guardians and looked amused.

"And who are these three little girls, Cousin?" Keji asked. "Your little fan club? I didn't think you'd be desperate enough to pay them off to do it."

"For your information, _dear_ Cousin Kenji, theses lily-livers are my fellow Guardians and comrades," Kimi spat.

Kenji widened his eyes in shock as his friends exchanged baffled looks.

"These Earthlings are Guardians?" Teppei asked and then laughed tauntingly. "They're even more pathetic than I'd imagined. I bet they can't even take on an _ushi-oni_!"

"Take on this, bub!" Cornelia shouted and stomped one foot on the ground. The earth trembled beneath her and knocked the boys down to their knees.

"Cornelia!" Taranee warned. "What are you doing?"

"She's doing what I should have done five minutes ago, that's what," Irma smirked and blasted a jet of water at Kenji.

With quick reflex, Kenji used his magic and summoned the water around him to rise. It instantly froze over and formed an ice barrier against Irma's attack.

"So, you want to fight, Earthling?" Kenji smiled wickedly. "Let's fight. Teppei! Katsuharu! Hiro! I want you to teach these little girls who they're dealing with!"

Kenji slammed his fist into the ice wall and a flurry of ice bullets flew at Irma. Irma gasped and dodged out of the way as Taranee tried to cover her with a shield of fire.

"Kenji, that's enough!" Kimi shouted, shooting a blast of light sphere at him.

Kenji jumped out of the way as the attack collided with the remaining ice wall. The crystal ice reflected the light of Kimi's attack in all direction, accidentally blinding Cornelia and Irma. The incident gave Teppei and Katsuharu a chance to strike with their earth magic. In a horse stance, Teppei used his martial art moves and tore up the earth beneath their feet while Katsuharu summoned a sea of angry vines and trees from the chasms and wrapped them around the Guardians. For more thrill, he snapped his fingers and ordered the vegetation to slam the Guardians into each other before throwing them to the ground.

"That's it," Taranee warned, summoning a ball of fire in her hand. "You wanna play with fire? Here's a plateful!"

Taranee threw the flame sphere at Katsuharu who only jumped out of the way and into the air before flipping down and slammed his heel on Taranee's back, sending her flying. "Pathetic," he said.

Irma, Cornelia, and Taranee got up and tried to intercept their attacks, but the three boys just threw them off easily. They were too strong and too fast. Irma felt that brute strength when one of them slipped between her and Cornelia and kicked her into two nearby cherry blossom trees, destroying them in the process.

"Irma! Are you okay?" Taranee asked.

"Urgh…" Irma moaned, trying to get back up. "Yeah, I'm fine, as soon as I can kick some butts!"

Irma raised up her hands and so did the water around them. "Tara, give me some cover!"

Taranee nodded. Concentrating, she used her fire power to boil the water to a point where the molecules were evaporated, emitting a screen of steam cover.

"If they can't see us, then we can attack them," Cornelia grinned, cracking her knuckles.

Using her earth magic, she placed a hand on the ground trying to sense where they are. Once she pinpointed them, Cornelia sent a volley of rocks at Hiro, Katsuharu, and Teppei. The stones almost made contact and would have knocked them down hadn't a plate of earth just jutted in front of them and blocked the attacks.

Cornelia stared in disbelief. "How? They couldn't even see it coming!"

The boys laughed and Teppei flicked one wrist, sending the plate of earth sliding down at the Guardian of Earth. Cornelia gasped and jumped out of the way only to have it cut the ends of her hair like a sliding knife. Unfortunately, she was too concerned with dodging the damn thing, she didn't noticed that Hiro appeared right behind her and threw her across the field as if she was nothing more than a Frisbee disk. Cornelia tried to get her balance back in mid-air and was about to fly away when suddenly vines of ivy shot upward and wrapped them around her.

"You Earthlings are no fun at all," Teppei brood. "You're all too weak in comparison to us. Hardly a challenge."

"Don't break them, Teppei," Katsuharu taunted. "Or you'll make Kenji's cousin angry."

"I've had enough of you clowns!" Taranee screamed and burst into a pillar of flames.

"You go get them, Tara!" Irma cheered.

Taranee flew at them as she blazed in brilliant light like the human torch she was. She flew through the vines, setting them on fire as she cut them off and set Cornelia free. Next, she aimed for the three boys and shot volleys of fireballs at them furiously. As Irma and Cornelia cheered their friends on, the three boys quickly dodged the attacks and weaved themselves through the volley by jumping and flying around like cranes and tigers. Hiro came up from behind Taranee and knocked her down to the ground in unison with Teppei and Katsuharu as they both came up from behind Irma and Cornelia and threw them towards the fallen fire pillar. The three Guardians slammed into each and before they could get up and move, they were quickly tied down by Kenji's water cobras. The snakes coiled themselves around the three girls and tied them up like giant, thick ropes and loomed over them with hissing smiles.

"Well," Irma started. "This is embarrassing."

"Oh, there's an understatement, Irma!" Cornelia rolled her eyes.

"We have got to get ourselves loose!" Taranee urged, trying to wiggle herself free. _Damn it, what's wrong with these binds?_

_If I didn't know any better, it feels like this water is infused with dark magic…_ Irma thought.

"Don't even try, Guardians," said Hiro. "Kenji's water magic are infused by his _chi_. It'll take more than a combination of your fire magic to evaporate them."

"You wish to know why we can take you out so easily?" Teppei asked mockingly. A stump of earth lifted from the ground for him to sit. "You see, _Guardians_," he said, mocking their titles, "Lusterians have learned to fight for thousands of years. A toddler is forced to learn martial arts once he or she is weaned from the mother at the age of three."

"And you want to know why we're more powerful than you?" Katsuharu asked, elbowing his friend teasingly. "For centuries, Lusterians have learned how to accumulate their _chi_ in their bodies and concentrate it to a point where it enables them to be more powerful than you Earthlings."

"We are faster than you," Hiro added. "We can endure more physical pain. And we are, in essence, more skillful and powerful than you sorry lot."

"Now, since Kandrakar had the audacity to declare you girls as their Guardians, it means that they saw something powerful in you," Teppei got up and punched his fists together. "Let's see how _powerful_ you are and how much pain you can _endure_."

Irma gulped. "Um…Kimi? Anytime you want to pitch in now!"

Kimi turned and tried to aid them but was suddenly block by a wall of cobras made from Kenji's dark water.

"Where do you think you're going, Kimi-chan?" Kenji laughed. "Don't you want to play with your favorite cousin?"

"I'd never like you to begin with," Kimi replied and tried to fly away, but one of the cobras got a hold on her boots, pulling her down. With her free hands, Kimi shot a bolt of light sphere and another one at Kenji's feet before escaping to the air. She dove down and landed in front of Teppei and punched him in the stomach before ducking and swinging her leg out, knocking the other two down.

"You little bitc—" Teppei swore but stopped when Kimi placed a boot on his throat to hold him down. Katsuharu and Hiro got up and wanted to dive in but Kimi manifested a pair of crossbows and too aim. The next thing they knew, arrows made from hard light pinned them against the trees, immobilizing them.

The three water cobra heads hissed and strike. Kimi let the crossbows dissolved before forming a shield in front of her. Unfortunately, the giant pillars of water cobras pushed her back against the other three Guardians as they sank their fangs into her shield.

"I can see every flaw in your forms, dear cousin," Kenji declared. He held up his hand and the cobras readied themselves for another strike. "Face it, Kimi. You are just like your Guardian friends! You're weak, pathetic, and a disgrace to the Kinomoto clan. You'll never be as powerful as your own twin and never will be. You are not worthy of your powers!"

"And you think you are?" Kimi mocked him in return. "If you were worthy, then why did Lord Araël and the Gemini Council choose me and Kyochi to be their new Guardians?"

"What do you know, whelp?!" Kenji screamed.

"Everyone in the Kinomoto and the Watsuki clans know it," Kimi replied. The snakes continued to batter against her shield as she tried to hold her ground against them.

_Try to free yourselves while I keep the snakes busy_, Kimi said telepathically. Taranee nodded and tried her best to slowly weaken the bond with her fire. Irma and Cornelia followed suit and each summoned their own power to weaken the bond. Kenji was too preoccupied with Kimi to bother tightening the serpents' grips on them and it gave them a huge relief to loosening his hold.

While Irma, Taranee, and Cornelia etched away at the watery bind, Kimi continued her banter. "That's right, Kenji. Since Kazuhiro and Kazuhiko's abdications as the first Twin Guardians, all of their successors came from the Kinomoto bloodline."

"What's your point?" Kenji demanded.

"You know very well that Kyochi and I are the descendents of both Kazuhiro Kinomoto and Kazuhiko Watsuki. Their bloods run through our veins and so does their legacies. Even your own brothers were eligible candidates to become Guardians." Kimi shrugged as the fury in her cousin's eyes grew more intense. "Yet, you were never called to the ceremony and you know why?"

"Shut up!" Kenji screamed and the cobras recoiled back before striking her harder. At that moment, Irma, Cornelia, and Taranee got free and jumped out of the way. Kimi, on the other hand, took the blunt blow and the serpents rammed themselves at her, breaking her shield of light.

"If there's anyone around here who isn't worthy to be a Guardian it's you, Kenji," Kimi spat. "And you know why? Because you are NOT a real member of the Kinomoto cla—"

"**I SAID SHUT UP, YOU LITTLE WHELP!"** Kenji roared and threw the serpents at her at full force. Each watery snake hissed as they grabbed a limb of the girl and pinned Kimi down to the ground, immobilizing her. "I have had enough of you, little cousin. I am going to wipe that grin off your pretty, little face!" Kenji laughed maniacally as he summoned more water cobras and aimed them at her face. "And this time, your big brother isn't here to save you!"

"Yeah? Well, take your best shot!" Kimi challenged. Although her wrists were bounded, Kimi summoned spheres of light orbs in the palms of her hands, ready to defend herself.

"Delighted to, little cousin!"

"**THAT'S ENOUGH!"** a new voice roared.

Suddenly, a small patch of storm clouds thundered above their heads. Taranee looked around and noticed that it was only over their area of the field while the rest was clear. The wind howled around them, causing the snakes to hiss as their attentions turned to the clouds. Lightning flashed furiously and struck the cobras, reducing them to nothing but water, freeing Kimi.

Kenji and his friends gasped and looked up to see Will, Hay Lin, Orube, and Chancellor Komei Kinomoto. At first, Irma thought the attack came from Will and Hay Lin, but then she noticed that the man next to them was holding up a feathered fan and immediately knew that he was the wielder.

"Father!" Kenji gasped. "Father, this isn't what it looks like! I just—"

**"SILENCE, BOY!"** Komei Kinomoto glared, his angry tone silencing him and forced his friends to kowtow in humiliation. "I am very crossed with you right now!"

**"But I—"**

**"I SAID SILENCE!"** Komei repeated and pointed his feathered fan at his adopted son. A cage of electricity appeared around him, trapping the boy and rendering his water magic useless. "I expected you and your friends to show the Oracle of Kandrakar respect by welcoming her Guardians from Earth with hospitality. Yet, you've disgraced me and soiled the Kinomoto clan's honor with your stupidity! I ought to disown you this instant!" Turning his attention back to the other three boys, he said, "And as for the three of you…"

"Forgive us, Chancellor!" Teppei cried, keeping his gaze down on the pavement.

"We've meant no disrespect," Katsuharu exclaimed, hoping that the Chancellor would hear him out. "It wasn't our fault. The Guardians were the ones who attacked us first!"

"Hey, only because you pea-brains insulted us!" Cornelia snapped.

"Regardless of the situation, the three of you have no business in our clan's affair with Kandrakar and their Guardians," Komei said. He folded his arms began to conjure a punishable thought befitting their acts. "Consider yourselves lucky for I shall spare you and your respected clans the humiliation. Now the four of you can get out of my sight!" he waved his fan and a gust of wind blew around them. Then next thing the Guardians knew, Kenji and his friends were blown away.

"Well," Irma spoke up at last after a pause of silence among them, "that was unexpected."

"Who's he?" Cornelia asked, turning her attention back to Chancellor Komei.

"Whoever he is, thanks a bunch for the help," Taranee smiled. "I didn't think Lusterians would be _that_ aggressive against us just because we are from Earth."

"You must forgive my son's impetuous behavior," the Chancellor replied. "He resents the Guardians because he deeply wished to be one himself, yet I'm afraid it's not possible for him as he was adopted." Holding out his swan-feathered fan, the Chancellor bowed deeply like a gentleman. "I am Chancellor Komei of the Kinomoto clan and you must be the other three Guardians from Earth."

Irma and her two friends introduced themselves and thanked the chancellor again for his help. When his eyes fell on Kimi, she crossed her arms as if furious with him. Komei laughed.

"No greeting for me, Niece?" he asked.

"I didn't need your help, Uncle Komei," Kimi stated. "I could have handed Kenji on my own before you intervened."

"I see that your short excursion on Earth has done nothing to adjust your discourtesy, Kimi-chan," the Chancellor noted. Kimi shrugged.

"Why are you here, Oji-san?" Kimi asked. "It not like you or anyone in the Kinomoto clan cared about my well-being."

"Watch your tongue, Niece," Komei warned, his tone dangerously low. If Kimi had been afraid, she didn't show it. "You still have a lot to learn should you ever wish to be on par with your brother's level."

"Chancellor, if I may?" Orube interrupted. "Our missions are still a priority. Should you wish to aid us in our quest to help find your nephew, I would suggest you start now for the same of time."

"Very well," the Chancellor nodded. He composed himself and smiled. "I came here for another reason other than to monitor Kenji's more than less disappointing performances," he said, fanning himself gently with a hand behind his back. "I've been looking into Kyochi-kun's disappearances as well."

"And what have you found?" Kimi questioned. "I've been trying to sense his aura and tracking his last trail for days but to no fruitful result."

The Chancellor nodded his head and reached for the inside pocket of his robes. He pulled out an object and handed it to his niece. The other girls bend in for a closer look and it appeared to be a glass phial with a glowing blue liquid.

"This is one of Nii-san's," Kimi whispered. "Where did you get this?"

"In the laboratory of the science department, naturally," the Chancellor said. "Kyochi Watsuki is one of our many kinsmen to have entered the field of medicine and healing like his mother…my sister. He has created many herbal potions and I believe this phial was his last one before he disappeared."

"How is this thing going to help us?" Irma asked.

"Other than ailing your most fatal wounds in battle, its aura is as fresh as the morning dew in the fields of the mountains."

"I can use my power to sense Kyochi's presence," Kimi nodded. "People are not the only creatures to have auras. Objects touched by its master retain their memories and auras…"

Like before, Kimi's eyes glowed white as she concentrated her aura sensing magic on the phial. After a moment the glowing light dissolved and Kimi sighed. "This phial gave me a faint trail. I believe we have our lead."

"Where to?" Orube asked.

"Back into the Dark Forest Continent," Kimi said grimly.

"You mean we have to go back into that dark, creepy forest?" Hay Lin asked skeptically. "I don't know…I'd rather not get tangled with another _tengu_."

"There are worst things than _tengus_ in the Dark Forest and in this world, Air Guardian," the Chancellor replied. Turning to Will, he held out his hand. "The medallions, if you please?"

Will gave him the medallions and Komei used his fan to brush some dirt and ashes off of it. He began to scrutinize what was left on the surfaces and after a moment, he came to a grim conclusion.

"These markings are ancient, dated back to the First Era after the Great Elemental War that devastated this planet," Komei said, giving the medallions back to Will. "They were once used by the sages and acolytes who worshiped and followed the five Celestial Sovereigns."

"But the Celestial Sovereigns fell after the Great Elemental War," Kimi said. "What do the old gods have anything to do with the Deadly Sins?"

"I am unsure of this myself," the Chancellor replied. "But I do know for a fact that their reign of powers did not end with their deaths. The gods' powers still reign today, although not as strongly as before."

"Do you have any ideas where these came from?" Will asked.

"There are small markings invisible to your eyes but telling to mine. After the Celestial Sovereigns died, their followers did build several temples to commemorate their sacrifices before perishing themselves. It was built deep in the northeastern corner of the Dark Forest Continent."

"But that's the most dangerous direction!" Hay Lin stated. When the other girls gave her a blank look, she shrugged. "My grandma told me all about it. In _Wu Shing_, the Chinese philosophy on the cosmology of natural science and occultism, it is considered one of the most dangerous directions."

"So it's like feng shui?" Irma asked.

Before Hay Lin could answer her, Chancellor Komei nodded. "You are correct, and those temples were to guard against evil…however, it has been thousands of years since their constructions and their guardians have died out."

"When I trained here, I heard horrible stories of those temples," Orube added. "The other warriors feared it and say that to journey there means utter foolishness."

"And the perfect place to breed evil," Taranee noted. "Don't you see, by spreading all of these rumors and urban legends, someone is ensuring a secluded location to devise havocs for Kandrakar and all of us!"

"The perfect location for the source of our troubles!" said Cornelia.

Kimi looked down at the phial of glowing healing potion. For a moment, Will noticed that her eyes were not full of anger or frustrations but longing. It was as if the phial was the closest thing she had to her twin's presence as well as her only clue to find him. The object was now more precious to them than they realized for it wasn't valued on its capability to save a person's life, but it was currently their major clue to find the missing Guardian of Darkness.

"I fear that a shadow and a threat had been growing on my mind," Kimi said. "Both the medallions and the phial are leading us to a place that whisper utter fear. This cannot be a coincidence."

"In our line of work, I don't think coincidence ever exists," Will noted. Turning to face the direction of the Dark Forest Continent, Will clenched her fists with renewed determination. "Come on, girls. We've faced tougher things before and we're noting to going to let a little dark forest scare us."

"Yeah! We're the Guardians of Kandrakar," Irma agreed. "Anything else goes wrong, we'll just show them who is boss!"

"Let's light up that dark place," Taranee added, cracking her knuckles.

Kimi tightened her grip on the glass phial, holding it closer. _I'm coming, Nii-san. Wait for me._

"Look for your brother, but I urge you not to trust to hope for it seems that it's starting to forsaken this land," Chancellor Komei said. "Darkness is plaguing us every day and even more so now that my nephew is missing."

"We'll find him, Chancellor," Orube nodded.

"I hope that you'll do, Guardians," Komei said. "I have many nephews but none of them as anything like Kyochi. See to it that you'll bring him back to us."

And with a final nod, Chancellor Komei Kinomoto gave the Guardians his blessing. He stepped back and raised his feathered-fan. A wind tunnel circled them as they rose up into the air by the powerful gust and the next thing they knew, they disappeared magically into the depths of the Dark Forest Continent.

_**To be continued…**_

_**Cultural references**_

_**Like Nihon is Lusteria's version of Japan, the Kingdom of Zhong-guo is their version of China.**_

_**Edo was the former name of Tokyo in our history. I've decided to use it as the name of Nihon.**_

_**Chancellor Komei Kinomoto was based on a real character from Romance of the Three Kingdoms named Zhuge Liang. In the Chinese classics, Zhuge Liang was a Chancellor of the Kingdom of Shu and a master tactician of Lord Liu Bei. Komei is a play-on word based on "Kongming" which is another version of Zhuge Liang's name. Like the real historical figure of Zhuge Liang, Komei tends to hold a hand fan made from features of a bird. Zhuge Liang was not only an important military strategist and statesman; he was also an accomplished scholar and inventor.**_

_**In reality, Zhuge Liang had a few sons, including an adopted one. However, Kenji Kinomoto is my own creation and wasn't based on Zhuge Liang's actual adopted son, Zhuge Qiao, as I wanted to have someone depicted as an arrogant and disrespectful relative who loves nothing more than to torture Kimi for his twisted pleasure.**_

_**Lusterians are a bit like the benders from Avatar: The Last Airbender series, but also a little bit like Kryptonians due to their immense super-human strengths. They integrated martial arts into their cultures and their magic. Unlike benders in the Avatar series, only magical Lusterians can "bend" the elements and it is not limited to just four elements as many can control woods, light, darkness, crystals, illusions, storms, etc. Think of it almost like from the various styles from Naruto series, more or less as well but without all that ninja stuff. Regular non-magical Lusterians only have super-strengths and agilities.**_


	6. Brave New World pt III

**_W.I.T.C.H. of Lusteria_**

**_By Galistar07water_**

**_Disclaimer: W.I.T.C.H. is owned and copyrighted by the Walt Disney Company Italia and is in no way affiliated with the fictional works of Galistar07water._**

**_Author's note: If you would like to see drawings of W.I.T.C.H. Dreams of Lusteria, please visit my page and click the "W.I.T.C.H. Dreams of Lusteria" folder in the gallery section._**

_**Chapter 02: Brave New World pt. III**_

The thing about travelling through a magical wind tunnel is that it'll make you dizzy. By the time the wind around them stopped swirling, the Guardians and Orube were no longer on the university campus ground, but smacked in the middle of the Dark Forest. Irma was the first to respond.

"Urgh…I don't feel so good…Guess I shouldn't have eaten all of those mini-meat pies for lunch."

"No kidding," Cornelia agreed, rubbing her temple as she tried to ease her headache. "I'd prefer to have my feet on the ground."

"The next time your uncle spirits to the Dark Forest, Kimi, tell him we'd rather take the traditional way by flying or teletransporting," Irma glanced at Kimi. Kimi rolled her eyes and ignore her. Secretly, Kimi agreed. She hated it whenever her uncle does that to her and Kyochi before, too.

"So where to from here?" Orube asked.

Kimi fiddled with the glass phial in her hands and concentrated her magic. Turning to her left, she pointed in that direction. "The ancient temples are located over there."

"How long do we have to go?" Hay Lin asked.

"About forty kilometers, I would wager," Kimi replied.

"Are you serious? That's like twenty-five miles away!" Taranee pointed out. "Why couldn't the Chancellor spirited us straight to the temples instead?"

"Had he done that, then whoever our enemies are would have been able to sense the wind tunnel, Irma," Orube explained, placing her hands on her hips. "We're here on a reconnaissance mission as well as a search for Kyochi. We don't want to alert whatever evil forces that are lying in wait for us."

"Orube's right, Irma," Will nodded. "C'mon, we can fly most of the way there. Then we'll walk."

Kimi turned over to Orube and held up her hand, covering Orube in a protective layer of purple aura light. As Kimi took flight, so did Orube behind her.

At first, they all flew over the canopies of the forest in silence. Being the one who couldn't stand the tension, Irma decided to break it by mentioning Kimi's cousin.

"So what's his deal?" Irma asked. She folded her arms as she flew, obviously still furious about being kicked around by those wizards. "Sure, I get why he wants to be a Guardian, I mean it's a nice job and all but without the paychecks…but does that Kenji guy really have to take it out on us?"

"Urgh, that guy was a creep," Cornelia sneered, remembering the small bruises Teppei and his friends gave her. "Some gentlemen he and his friends were."

"If memory serves correctly, you were the one who attacked my idiot cousin first," Kimi reminded her.

"Hey, he and his goons had it coming!" Cornelia defended herself. "You didn't expect me to just stand there and take his insults."

"Cornelia's right," Taranee said, the fire in her eyes lighting up. "How could you expect us to just stand by and let them condescend to us like that?"

"You know, I think the reason why is because Kimi's just like her messed up cousin," Irma added, shooting Kimi a glare. "After all, being patronizing against Earthlings must run in the family, if not your entire race."

"Irma, you are really stepping out of line right now, so shut it," Will shot Irma a warning glare.

"What do you lily-livers know anything?" Kimi demanded.

"Let me understand this clearly," Orube interrupted. "When Kenji Kinomoto and his friends insulted you girls, Cornelia threw a rock at them and that's how the fight started?"

The others didn't reply, but they didn't need to. Orube frowned and sighed in disappointment.

"What?" Irma shrugged. "If you were there, you would have heard what they called us!"

"And when we fought, they kept patronizing us and bragging about how inferior Earthlings are to Lusterians!"

"They challenged us and insulted us as Guardians!" Irma pointed out. "We had to do something!"

"Did you, really?!" Orube snapped at them. "It seems quite obvious that they were baiting you with insults and you didn't hesitate to take the hook."

"What are you saying?" Taranee asked.

"My cousin and his friends were nothing more than bullies," Kimi said. "Kenji was jealous because he wasn't a qualified candidate for the Guardian position."

"Why? Because he was adopted? That's unfair for him," Hay Lin said.

"I do not make the rules of who is qualified for the position or not," Kimi replied.

"Only members of the Kinomoto clan are qualified to become the Guardians of Light and Darkness," Orube stated. "The Gemini Council told us this already. Because Kenji isn't an official member of the Kinomoto clan by blood, his qualification was automatically null and void."

"So when his cousins were selected, Kenji became jealous and hated them?" Hay Lin asked.

"And when he saw Irma, Taranee, and Cornelia in their Guardian form, that fueled his hatred even more, so he took it out on them with insults to make himself feel better," Will stated.

"The point is you girls were foolish enough to take on his slurs," Orube snorted, shaking her head.

"Oh, so it's our fault?"

"At least I wasn't the one who threw the first blow," Kimi rolled her eyes. Cornelia shot her a hateful glare for stating the obvious.

Kimi ignored her and began to addressed Irma and Taranee as well. "If you lily-livers hadn't started the fight, we would have had more time to finish our missions today."

"What? You want us to act like you when all you did was insulted them back."

"Actually, _I _would have expected you to do just do nothing instead," Orube lectured her. "Don't you see? You should have just let the insult washed over you like water rather than let those boys goaded you."

Taranee thought for a quick moment before she finally understood. "Orube's right."

Irma stared back at her in shock. "What? You're taking their side, Tara?"

"Irma, don't you see? We fought back against those bullies because of our _pride_ and we're facing the Deadly Sins!"

Something clicked and Cornelia understood what Orube was trying to say. "Right…Pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, isn't it?"

"But didn't Ngọc Long told us that they were only able to detect the other five sins?" Irma protested. "Aren't Envy and Pride like…went AWOL or something?"

"We can't be too sure about this, Irma," Will pointed out. "Darkness is fueling these Sins and if we let ourselves be baited by them like you did back there, we would only be aiding our enemies."

"You really can't expect us to do nothing when someone insulted us like that, do you?"

"You can retort, but it's probably best not to throw the first attack and start a real fight unless absolutely necessary."

Irma didn't like it one bit but she sighed with agreement. "Fine, the next time those bullies insult us with nasty slurs, I'll just cool their heads off with a nice, small bucket of cold water."

The others giggled, saved for Kimi and Orube.

"So what will your uncle do with your cousin?" Hay Lin asked curiously.

Kimi shrugged as if she could care less. "Hopefully with whatever fitting punishment my uncle can conjure up."

"I still can't help but wonder how those bullies could have taken us so easily," Taranee said, pondering.

"Oh, please don't go there, Taranee!" Cornelia warned. "That Katsuharu, Teppei, and that Hiro boy already went on and on about how stronger Lusterians humans are compared to us and how much training they had since they were in diapers—"

"Yeah, and the last thing we need is to have Kimi here," Irma gestured a thumb at the Guardian of Light, "lecture on and on about how weak Earthlings are again."

Kimi sighed in exasperation and rolled her eyes.

"Actually, that's not what I was referring to," Taranee pointed out. "I was talking about their magic." Turning to the Water Guardian, she continued, "Irma, didn't you mentioned through telepathy that the water snakes' binding was strange?"

Irma dodged a tree that was coming up at her and nodded. "Yeah…it was as if it was infused with dark magic or something…but I wasn't entirely sure."

"Well, it does look like he and his friends were tough opponents," Will suggested.

"No, they're not," Kimi waved her hand at the suggestion. "Orube and I could toss them around the training court any time of the day and so should have you lily-livers. My cousin may be tough, but he's weak compared to me and all of my other relatives."

Will raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Your friend there may have a point," Kimi replied. "Even in their Guardian forms, they should have been able to take on my idiot cousin and his friends."

"Are you suggesting that Irma was right and that Kenji and the other three might have used the darker side of their elements to increase their abilities?"

Kimi frowned, obviously not liking the idea. "If they did, then I will show no mercy the next time we meet."

Again there was another silence as the seven of them continued to fly over the dark, misty forest below. Will began to notice that the deeper they flew into the direction of the temples, the darker and thicker the mist became. Will didn't like it one bit. It was getting colder, too, and sometimes, she thought she saw something moving below in the corner of her eyes.

"Eeek! What was that?" Hay Lin squealed when she felt something brushing against her shoes.

"Um, girls? I think I just saw something moving down there," Irma said, her voice quivering. Although cold doesn't usually affect Irma as it is a part of her element, it doesn't mean that she couldn't shiver.

_Whooo-ooo…_

"Okay, don't tell me that you didn't just hear that?" Irma gasped.

"We're getting closer to our destination," Orube stated. Looking up and projecting her cat-liked vision forward, Orube squinted and saw a dark and towering shape. "I can see the ziggurat part of the temple from here."

"I think it's best that we should land and walk the rest of the way so we are not detected," Will suggested.

The other four Guardians looked down hesitantly. "You mean down there?" Hay Lin asked. "Will, something just touched my shoes! And the air is telling me now that this part of the forest is crawling with something."

"They're called shadow spirits, fruit-cup," Kimi noted. "And trust me, they are not the most pleasant ones."

Orube pointed to Will. "Will, we'll have to turn invisible and try to use the Heart to cloak our presences from these shadow spirits. They won't bother us if they cannot see us."

Will nodded and began to turn invisible. The others followed her example. Kimi turned to Orube and mentally altered the light particles around her, rendering the Basilíadian invisible as well before Will took out her Heart and asked it to cloak the seven of them.

Once they landed, they immediately saw shadow spirits with glowing red or yellow eyes moving around them. They didn't look human. Some looked more grotesque than others while some towered over them by several feet.

_This is freaky! _Taranee said, opening up a telepathic channel throughout their minds. Kimi was not pleased.

_What the hell are you doing in my mind, lily-liver? _She demanded.

_Kimi, chill… _Irma suggested. _It's not like we can read your deepest thoughts and know all of your secrets._

_My mind is NOT a nice place to be in, _Kimi warned. _If you know what's good for you, you should know your place and not read my thoughts._

_Don't worry, Kimi, I promised to respect your privacy and not invade your thoughts, _Taranee assured her. _My telepathy channel will allow us to communicate with each other without fearing the enemies eavesdropping._

_Kimi, I trust Taranee and I promised you that she will never intrude into your most private thoughts, _vouched Orube.

Kimi shrugged. _Fine, but for her sake, she better not. _

After walking ten minutes through the dark spirits-infested forest in silence, it was Hay Lin who decided to break the silence.

_So, Kimi…um…_ Hay Lin began to ask. _I have a personal question to ask, if you don't mind?_

_What is it, fruit-cup?_

_Um, well, your uncle told us that the previous Twin Guardians were his great-grandfather and his twin brother—_

_My great-great-grandfather, yes,_ Kimi nodded. _And?_

_Well, my grandmother and her friends were the previous five Guardians before us W.I.T.C.H.—_

_W.I.T.C.H.? Is that what you five called yourselves? _Kimi smirked as if the name amused her.

_Well, yes, it's just our initials put together, _Hay Lin continued. _Anyway, when I mentioned this to the Chancellor, he said that Lusterians have longer life spans. So…_

Hay Lin trailed off, afraid that she might hit something too personal. Cornelia raised an eyebrow. _Let me get this straight, you Lusterians are stronger, more skilled in martial arts, and you live longer? No wonder your kind is so condescending._

_For your information, Cornelia, my people on Basilíade also live long lives,_ Orube remarked.

_Right, I've almost forgotten that you're several thousand years old, Orube. Not bad for an old cat,_ Irma laughed quietly and the others joined in. Kimi and Orube did not find this amusing. Turning to Kimi, she asked, _So what about you? Don't tell me that you're a thousand year old woman._

_Lusterian humans don't live that long, Irma_, Orube retorted. _Only spirits and dragons do._

_Eighty-nine,_ Kimi smirked.

_Wait, what?_ Irma replied.

_I said that I am eighty-nine years old,_ Kimi repeated.

_Are you serious?! You can't be _that_ old!_

Orube and Kimi glanced at each other before they both burst into laughter. Will and Taranee joined in. This attracted some of the smaller shadow spirits' attention, but with the Heart cloaking them, the spirits went back to sleep.

_Looks like you're not the only one who can joke, Irma,_ said Will.

Kimi and Orube suddenly stopped dead in their tracks.

_Oh, you were joking,_ Irma folded her arms, pretending to be insulted. _No, seriously, how old are you?_

_Shh! _Kimi hushed her.

_Oh, don't give me that excuse, because no one can hear us when we're talking psychically!_

_It seems we're finally here,_ Kimi said, pointing to the remains of a series of temples in front of them. Although parts of it were in ruins and covered in invasive species of plants, the giant temples towered over them in an ominous way.

Irma gulped nervously, fearing that the building itself might notice them and decides to squash them like insects. Instead, she joked timidly, _Wow…n-nice place they got here._

_Don't joke about this, Irma, _Cornelia warned her. _Seriously, this place really reeks!_

_Yeah, of evil, I know! _Irma added.

_So where do we start first? _Taranee asked.

Will looked up at one of the temples' sinister looking towers. _Let's try up there first, _she suggested.

_No, Will! _Hay Lin spoke up.

Surprised, the others turned to her curiously.

_I…I think…I can hear voices…and they're coming from the courtyard… _Hay Lin pointed to the ruins to their left. _I can pick up some faint sounds from the wind blowing from that direction._

_So it looks like we're not the only ones here, _Cornelia said.

_Let's go find out who our real enemies are, _said Orube.

The seven of them quietly followed Hay Lin as she leads them by sound. The closer they crawled to the ruins of the temples' courtyard, the louder the voices got.

_I'm sensing something, _Kimi said, frowning with concern. _These auras…they're…they're immense and powerful! I fear that our enemies are not entirely humans…_

"How goes our conquest in Nihon, Seiryuu?" said a voice. From the sound of it, it was as if it had come from a man.

"Discreetly enough, Hwang-Ryong, at least for my army," replied a voice…a female this time. "However, the humans are starting to notice the other Sins we've been inducing. It won't be long until the Prince of Darkness finds out."

"He shall not find out, I can assure thou," replied a third voice, another man. "Come now, in this grand scheme of ours, there can be no dismay. Thou art worry for naught!"

"What makes you so sure, Zhu Que?" the woman, Seiryuu, questioned.

The Guardians and Orube inched themselves closer and peaked over a wall. Before them, they saw four figures, each wearing elaborate outfits that symbolizes an element. Their appearances were nothing like any Lusterians Kimi had even seen. While they do appear humans, it was the way they talked and carried themselves, almost as if these figures were godly. But that wasn't what was worrying Kimi. It was their names…

_Hwang-Ryong…Seiryuu…Zhu Que? _Hay Lin asked. _These names seemed familiar, even from my world…but I can't remember where._

_Quiet! They're talking! _

"Art thou not advised?" said Zhu Que, mockingly. "Thou have forgotten for the Guardian whose power ruled over the Shadows has been taken care of. Without him to inform the Prince of Darkness, he shall not be advised of our plans."

_I knew I should have paid more attention to literature class when we were learning about Shakespeare's plays, _Cornelia complained. _I seriously can barely understand what this Zhu Que is saying!_

_Me, too, _Irma agreed.

_Will you two just shut up! _Will shot them both a warning glare so that they can still listen in on their enemies' conversation.

Kimi, on the other hand, clenched her fists, the fury inside of her was burning up.

A fourth voice laughed at Zhu Que as she joined the discussion. "Even if you are right, Zhu Que, and that the Guardian of Darkness is incapacitated, you cannot count his sister out of the picture yet."

"Silence, Xuan Wu!" Zhu Que snapped, his fist bursting into flames.

"Or what? You'll make me suffer your Wrath?" Xuan Wu laughed. "Don't be ridiculous, brother. The Guardian of Darkness may have been captured, but his twin is still out there. I've no doubt that the Guardian of Light is searching for her missing brother as we speak."

"Rest assured, Xuan Wu, she will not find him," Hwang-Ryong stated, small statics of electricity danced through his body. "Even if she were to search this entire forest, there will be no fruition for her persistence."

Seiryuu smirked, placing her hands on her hips with the leaves around her dancing coldly. "However, Xuan Wu does have a point. The longer that little brat searches for her twin, the more likely she'll inform the Gemini Council of it."

"Let them be informed," Zhu Que laughed maniacally. "Kandrakar is naught but full of senile fools! I pray thee, what can those bastards do once we've conquered all of Lusteria? We have the Darkness and with it, our powers over the elements have peeked tenfold! Less thee forget that we each control the Deadly Sins. With it and our magic, we shall induce it into the weak hearts of the people and soon even the Five Great Elemental Kingdoms will fall under our control. Canst thou wit what this shall bring?"

Xuan Wu smiled wickedly, her long dark, brown hair gleaming like the depth of the ocean. "Once this world is ours, we shall not stop there. We will spread our conquest to the other worlds and declare war on Kandrakar. Our small invasions have already been sent out to these other worlds. It won't be long until our units have fully infiltrated those planets and induce our Sins into the indigenous populous."

_So that's why we were attacked on Earth and in Meridian! _Hay Lin gasped mentally. _They were sent by these guys!_

"And how discreetly have your infiltrators been?" Seiryuu mocked. "Did you think I would not notice, dear sister?"

"I do not know what you mean, Seiryuu," Xuan Wu replied lazily.

"Don't try to hide it, Xuan Wu," said Seiryuu. "I know that you, Zhu Que, and Byakko have been trying to show your influences on your victims with those medallions."

The three of them did not deny it, yet the news infuriated their leader._**"YOU FOOLS!"**_ Hwang-Ryong roared, electricity sparked from his finger tips. "How could you be so irrational? If the Guardian of Light finds them on your pathetic little monsters, she'll surely be able to link them back to us soon or later!"

"What are you afraid of, brother?" Xuan Wu shrugged, unaffected by Hwang-Ryong's fury. "By the time Kandrakar finds out, it'll be too late to stop us. With one of their Guardians out of the picture, we'll have one less to worry about."

"You're more of a fool than Byakko!" Hwang-Ryong snapped. "Haven't you heard? Kandrakar doesn't have two Guardians, it's seven! Rumors are spreading fast and the last thing I need is to have six Guardians interfering in my plans for this planet and the universe."

"So what? All the more pleasure for us to squash them like the insects that they are," Seiryuu laughed wickedly. "After all, the Guardian of Darkness has been captured and he's the most powerful of all seven of them. The other six will be easy picking for us."

"Such confidence," Zhu Que chided her. Turning his attention back to his brother, the fire warrior said, "Has thou kill the boy?"

Hwang-Ryong shook his head. "There is no need to kill the Guardian of Darkness, yet," he said. "Besides, there is still a chance that we might need him to defeat his sister."

_I am going to kill him! _Kimi thought. She wanted nothing more to do but to jump in and take on all five of them and then demand where they're keeping her twin.

Orube and Will pull her down before she could do anything rash.

_No, Kimi! We can't reveal ourselves, _Will said. _We've already found out who our new enemies are and from the looks of them, they're dead serious._

_We have to do something! _Kimi protested.

_Yes, we do, and that is to report back to Kandrakar of our finding and then warn everyone what's going on, _Orube said harshly. _This looks like the start of a Lusterian war and this time, it also involves _all _of our worlds!_

_But my brother!_

_You've heard that Hwang-Ry…whatever his name is! _Irma said. _It looks like he's being held captive somewhere but he's still alive._

_We'll have to find out more where they're keeping him, _Taranee urged. _We'll come back for him later. But now we really have to go._

Before Kimi could say anything, Hwang-Ryong spoke up again.

"Byakko!" he called.

A fifth figure, emerged from the earth. He was tall and muscular with broad shoulders and strong muscles. No doubt his element must be earth like Cornelia's. However, when the Guardians tried to see his face, they couldn't see his eyes for they were covered with a dark, green blindfold. They thought he was blind, but it was clear that he could see where he was going.

"You called, brother?" Byakko folded his arms as if annoyed to be summoned.

"Have you made any progress in the west?"

"No need to worry, brothers and sisters," Byakko assured. "My influences are building up and my armies are ready. Soon the Western Earth Kingdom of Zhong-guo will be the first to fall to its knees."

"And those blasted monks from the Siulahm Temples?"

"Bah! Those fools are pacifists. They care too much for the safety of the people," Byakko replied. "Once my Sin has induced the Emperor and his nobles, those monks cannot do anything but be occupied with their own problems to fight us."

"Excellent. And see to it that you've all stop using those medallions when inducing your monsters," Hwang-Ryong smiled with satisfaction. "And the other problem?"

"I'm already on it," Byakko grinned and stomped one foot into the ground.

The next thing the girls knew, the earth beneath them moved and they were thrown up into the air. They screamed in surprised as they landed in front of their five adversaries.

"Pathetic," Hwang-Ryong seemed amused. "Do you Guardians really think that I wouldn't know where you were hiding?"

"So these must be the other five Guardians you were talking about," Seiryuu smiled with a savage glee. Turning to Orube, she laughed. "Oh, look…a Basilíadian. This will be so much fun."

"Who the hell are you guys?" Will demanded.

Kimi didn't wait for Hwang-Ryong to answer. She stood up and glared at him with such hatred in her eyes. All the while, her fists clenched as she emitted glowing spheres of red light. She was really pissed.

"What have you done with Kyochi? Where is my brother?!" Kimi demanded.

"Such impudence!" Zhu Que declared. "How dare thee speak to us in such a manner. Do thee not know thou stand before the Celestial Warriors?!"

Orube gasped upon Zhu Que's designation. Kimi was also surprised, but continued to glare at them, ready to fire her red light spheres at any time. "Traitors! Give me back my brother or so help me, I'll separate your heads from your bodies!"

"Ha! I like to see you try, Guardian of Light," Xuan Wu laughed.

"I don't have time for this nonsense," turning to his four siblings, Hwang-Ryong snapped his fingers. "We have business to take care of and these little girls cannot interfere. Get them!"

"With pleasure!" Seiryuu replied. Suddenly, she manifested a pair of silver metal fans and threw them like discs at them. Kimi manifested a red shield from her spheres to block the first fan. As the second one came closer, she scattered along with the rest of the team.

Soon, they began to battle with the five Celestial Warriors with their respected element. Cornelia tried to dodge Byakko as he aimed for her. She tried to break the ground beneath his feet, hoping to trap him underground. Unimpressed, Byakko summoned his own weapon, a _guan dao_, and struck the bottom end of the shaft at the ground, causing the earth to tremble. Cornelia fell to her feet and immediately tried to scramble away when he jump at her. Looking at the spot where she was, she breathed a sigh of relief because if she hadn't moved, Byakko would have chopped her up with his _guan dao_.

Orube and Will battled Hwang-Ryong at the same time. Truthfully, they were having a lousy time doing it. Every time Will shot bolts of lightning at him, the Celestial Warrior intercepted and threw them back at her or at Orube thrice the amount of damage.

"Why? Why would the Celestial Warriors betray their own world?" Orube demanded as she swung her sword at him. "Have you no honor!"

Hwang-Ryong sneered. "Honor is nothing when your talent is wasted away in the depths of the people's memories. The Celestial Warriors have so much more potential and power and I will not stop until our dreams for this world are realized."

"You will not win!" Will declared, throwing another bolt of lightning at him, but he simply dodged it with ease. "The Guardians of Kandrakar will stop you."

"And that is why you all must die!" Hwang-Ryong replied. From his left shoulder-pad in the shape of a golden dragon's head, the Celestial Warrior pulled out a hoister. It sparked and extended a long electric whip. "Do not attempt to challenge this brave new world!"

Hwang-Ryong whipped it at them and Orube made the mistake of trying to cut it with her sword. Her blade didn't cut through because the rope was made entirely out of electricity. The whip curled around the metal blade of the sword, and was about to shock Orube had she not abandoned it.

Will emitted bolts of pink energy from her hands and threw them at Hwang-Ryong. This time, he absorbed them with his body and lashed his whip at her. Will could feel the intensity of the electricity running through her body and screamed. Orube took her chance and blasted purple _chi _at the Warrior to distract him and freed Will.

"It felt…it felt like my energy was draining," Will gasped as Orube tried to lift her up.

"Are you okay?" Orube asked.

Will nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, I think so…as soon as my vision stops spinning."

Meanwhile, Taranee shot volleys of fire at Zhu Que only to have him either blocking them with a sword, or absorbing them with his free bare hand. Suddenly, he erupted into a pillar of blue fire and blasted some of them after Taranee. She tried to hold them off with her own wall of fire, but her orange flames were no match for Zhu Que's blue fire. Eventually, one of them broke through her fire shield and it began to engulf her.

"Tara!" Irma cried. Turning to her friend who's on fire, Irma conjured up a column of cold water and doused her friend.

"Thanks, Irma," Taranee said. Before Irma could reply, Zhu Que threw another column of blue fire at her. Taranee tried to counter it with her own column of orange fire, but it was clear that she couldn't keep this up. Eventually, she had to break free and fly somewhere else in order to have an advantage. But every time she tried, Zhu Que was right behind her, firing volleys of blue flames hotter and more destructive than her own.

"Don't worry, Taranee!" I'm coming!" Irma cried.

"I don't think so, little girl," said a voice behind her and Irma was instantly knocked back by a water whip.

She groaned and got up to face her opponent.

"Wanna dance?" Irma challenged her. Irma pulled out her magical tambourine, ready to strike down the Celestial Warrior of Water. "C'mon, gimme your best shot! I can take ya!"

"_Oh, you don't want to fight me," _said Xuan Wu slyly.

There was something wrong with her voice as she spoke. Irma couldn't put her finger on it, but she could tell something was wrong. She tried to listen closely to see what's the matter with it. Bad mistake.

"_Didn't you hear me, little Guardian? I said that you don't want to fight me," _Xuan Wu repeated in a mesmerizing voice. The way she spoke made Irma want to nod and agree.

"Yeah, I don't want to fight you," Irma replied, clearly falling under Xuan Wu's hypnotic spell.

"_Don't fight me. In reality, you want to help me."_

"I won't fight you. I really want to help you…hey, wait a minute!" Irma protested as something in the back of her mind was telling her to wake up. "This is just like the Jedi mind trick thing!"

Xuan Wu intensified her charm speaking, intending to place Irma under her absolute command. _"This is not like the Jedi mind trick. I'm just telling you how to have fun."_

Instantly, Irma was under her control again and nodded dutifully. "Yeah, you're right. I want to have some fun."

"_Good, now attack your friends for me, won't you?" _Xuan Wu asked, looking up at Taranee and Cornelia as they battled against her brothers.

Irma nodded eagerly and rose up her arms. Suddenly, two geysers of water shot up at Taranee and Cornelia, knocking them out of place, giving Zhu Que and Byakko the chance to fly in and slam them brutally to the ground.

"_There, wasn't that fun?" _Xuan Wu asked slyly. Turning her attention to Hay Lin who was trying to counter Seiryuu's blasts of hot wind at her while trying to dodge her two flying fans of death. Below her, Orube and Will were both trying to take on Hwang-Ryong. Xuan Wu was about to give Irma the order to strike down those three next, but unbeknownst to her, Kimi had turned invisible sometime during the fight and was making her way to her.

"_Now, why don't you be a dear and take down your three little fr—AHH!"_

Xuan Wu didn't get to finish her sentence because Kimi and knocked her from behind. She turned visible again and tsked at Irma.

"Wake up, lily-liver!" Kimi said. Irma didn't respond so she did the one thing she could think of. She slapped the Water Guardian in the face. It worked.

Irma stumbled back a bit and rubbed her soar face. "Ow, what the hell did you do that for?"

Xuan Wu moaned at their feet as she tried to get up.

"No time, let's get out of here," Kimi said and the two of them made for the sky.

"You'll pay for that, you little…" Xuan Wu didn't bother to finish her sentence. She snapped her fingers and a giant snake-liked stream of water grabbed at them.

Irma tried to counter it with her water magic, but it was clear that it wasn't working. Before she knew it, the tip of Xuan Wu's water tentacles froze, encasing her left boot in an ice coffin.

"My leg!"

"Now you're mine!" Xuan Wu declared as she manifested a silver and gold bow and three arrows made from ice. She aimed three of them at Irma and Kimi and fired. "No one makes a fool out of the Celestial Warrior of Water!"

Kimi grunted as she shielded herself and Irma with another light shield. "Yeah? Well, no one touches my brother! Now where is he?!"

Irma fired more water bullets at Xuan Wu, but the Celestial Warrior smirked as they hit her harmlessly.

"Urgh! Why isn't this working?" Irma demanded. She broke the ice from her foot and freed herself.

"Ah!" Cornelia yelped, trying to hit Byakko with her boulders all the while dodging the blade of his _guan dao_. "Our powers barely have any effect on them!"

"Urgh! Element versus element isn't working because they have ten times our power!" Taranee stated, as Zhu Que transformed into a giant flaming bird. Taranee didn't even want to try and fire her flame spheres at him, knowing that it'll just make him even bigger and worst than before. She'll have to try to hold back his fire before he sets her ablaze again. "I can't…take the heat…it's too intense!" Taranee strained.

"C'mon, let's trade dance partners then," Will suggested.

The Guardians flew into the center of the court and took their chances to switch partners, hoping to gain the upper hand. It didn't work.

Cornelia took her chances with Hwang-Ryong. When she tried to smash him with two giant boulders after immobilizing him with vines, the leader of the Celestial Warrior merely generated lightning out of his eyes to free himself. The vines were quickly vaporized and the boulders crumbled into dust. Then he flew up to her face faster before she could react and made a grab for her. Cornelia gasped as she could feel her energy being drained before he threw her several meters across the court and she slammed into a series of stone columns.

Taranee switched with Irma and tried to evaporate Xuan Wu's pillars of water. But when the Warrior combined them with ice and pellets of hail the size of baseballs, Taranee became overwhelmed. It got worse when Xuan Wu generated a blizzard around their feet, icing up the ruins around them.

Irma faced off Seiryuu. "I'll handle the beauty queen here!" Irma declared, readying her own water pillars should Seiryuu decided to use her deadly metal _tessen _fans at her.

Seiryuu seemed amused. "Really? You'll handle me?" she asked mockingly. "Water Guardian, can you really handle the Celestial Warrior of Air?"

Irma immediately launched the water pillars at her, and threw in a flurry of ice daggers for good measure. Before Irma knew it, Seiryuu inhaled and emitted a sonic scream. The sound wave destroyed her attack and threw Irma back several meters. Irma struggled to get up, but the sonic scream was still reverberating in her head and it was giving her a hell of a dizzy spell.

The others weren't faring any better. Orube, Will, Hay Lin and Kimi went off to face Zhu Que and Byakko. Kimi kept throwing knives made out of constructed light at Zhu Que while Hay Lin tried her best to blast Byakko away with a whirlwind. Things got worse when Byakko and Zhu Que combined their powers and their area was soon consumed by a cloud of hot ash and dirt, causing the four of them to have trouble breathing.

Will decided she have had enough. She summoned the Heart of Kandrakar and instinctively, a huge light and energy knocked everything back. The elemental attacks from some of the Warriors' powers wavered a bit and the Heart's wave of magic did manage to push everyone a step back.

"Enough is enough!" Will declared. Turning to Hwang-Ryong, she glared at him. "You will give us back the Guardian of Darkness or so help me I'll—"

"You'll what?" Hwang-Ryong laughed, unimpressed by her show of power. "Use your little pendent against us? I'm afraid you'll find out that the light of your crystal won't be enough to affect us, for the Darkness is too powerful here."

Byakko smiled. "And you'll find out that you're in no position to bargain with us. Look at what I've caught."

Will turned to see Byakko holding up Kimi by her collar. She appeared to be slumped and unconscious.

_So much for being better than Earthlings, _Irma thought.

"Kimi! Let her go!" Will said.

Seiryuu laughed. "I'm afraid she's not the only one you'll have to worry about, Guardian."

Will turned and saw to her horror that Orube has been captured by Seiryuu and Xuan Wu. They forced her to her knees to submit. Xuan Wu manifested a shield and spear and held up the pointed end to Orube's throat while Seiryuu held her by the hair mercilessly.

"Orube! No!" Will cried in disbelief.

"Looks like you only have one choice, Guardian," Hwang-Ryong smirked.

"Surrender now or this bitch dies!" Seiryuu proclaimed. She pulled Orube's hair back even more, causing Orube to cringe.

Orube tried to shake her head. "No, Will! Don't surrender to these traitors! Let them kill me!"

"With pleasure!" Xuan Wu whispered gleefully. She pressed the tip of her spear closer to Orube's throat. Any further would cause a trickle of blood to flow.

"Your magic pendent is impressive, Guardian," Hwang-Ryong noted. "Surrender it to me along with your powers and I'll spare your two comrades."

"Thou have a choice," Zhu Que stated. "Will thou surrenderth thy powers to save thy friends?"

_What am I going to do? _Will thought frantically. _If I surrender the Heart, we'll lose. And if I don't, my friends are going to die!_

"Make your choice fast, Guardian!" Byakko ordered. "Or do I have to kill this girl first to convince you?"

For the first time since Elyon and Cedric captured Taranee in Meridian, Will was at a loss. She doesn't know what to do. Back then, it was easier for her to make the decision to retreat and come back another time to rescue Taranee. But this time, there was no guarantee that the Celestial Warriors will spare the lives of her two friends.

There was only once choice she could make, and she doesn't like it one bit. Will clenched her fist and the Heart dissolved reluctantly into her hand.

"A wise choice, Guardian," Hwang-Ryong said victoriously. Holding out his hand, he motioned her over. "Now hand it over."

"Not even in your dreams!" cried a voice.

It sounded like Kimi. They turned to see her still unconscious in Byakko's arms and were dumbfounded.

"What the hell?" Xuan Wu raised an eyebrow.

The Celestial Warrior of Water unconsciously lowered her spear, and this gave Kimi the opportunity she needed. At that moment, she suddenly turned visible again in front of the three of them. Her hands were clasped together with two forefingers pointing at Orube like a gun.

"Orube, get down!" she ordered and fired a laser beam from her forefingers.

Orube ducked as the laser went straight for her. For a split second, it looks as if it was about to pierce her, but instead the laser split into two and bent around the Basilíadian warrior and hit the two unexpected Celestial Warriors behind her.

The two women doubled back from the attack. Orube balanced her weight against her arms, lifted up her two feet and kicked them both back further.

"What the—?" Byakko widened his eyes. He turned to look at Kimi and then back at the Kimi that was still unconscious in his arm. The one that was unconscious dissolved into nothing but tiny light and sparkles. It was a fake.

Hwang-Ryong frowned. "A holographic specter," he declared, disappointed in his brothers' failure to notice the difference. "You've been duped."

"Orube-neechan? Are you alright?" Kimi asked after pulling Orube away from Seiryuu and Xuan Wu.

"I'm fine," Orbe coughed. "But when did you...?"

"I took my chance when I was still in the cloud of dust and ashes," Kimi explained.

"Um…girls?" Hay Lin spoke up. "I don't think Byakko and Zhu Que liked that trick of yours."

Sure enough, Byakko and Zhu Que were losing their tempers. In empathy with their rages, the earth shook violently beneath their feet as giant woods uprooted themselves around them.

"_**NO ONE MAKES A FOOL OUT ME!"**_ Byakko roared.

The Guardians braced themselves as he pulled the earth and the wood around them, trying to cage them in.

"_**I AM THE CELESTIAL WARRIOR OF EARTH! YOU WILL ALL FEAR MY MIGHT!"**_

"_**LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"**_ Cornelia cried.

The others didn't want to argue with her. Orube grabbed Kimi's wrist and pulled her along.

"I don't think so!" Seiryuu declared and summoned a powerful tornado. It sucked them back into the earthen cage, trapping them like rats. "After that nasty trick, you're not going anywhere!"

"What's happening?!" Irma asked, her voice nearly lost over the sound of whirling wind and crashing earth.

Trees began to spiral their way around the earthen cage, strengthening its support and blocking all of openings big enough for them to crawl through.

"We're trapped!" Will gasped.

"_**HOW DARE THOU MAKE A MOCKERY OF US?!"**_ Zhu Que roared as he burst into a pillar of blue flames again. _**"AS PUNISHMENT, YOU WILL ALL SUFFER THE WRATH OF ZHU QUE!"**_

The Celestial Warrior of Fire set flames to the wood. Xuan Wu smiled savagely as she and Hwang-Ryong looked on. Seiryuu joined the fray by creating a whirlwind around the structure, magnifying the intensity of the fire. To make matters worse, the earthen cage got smaller and smaller, threatening to crush all seven of the girls.

"Will, get us out of here now!" Taranee begged. "I can't stop these flames!"

"And I can't hold Byakko's earth back much longer!" Cornelia added, her voice strained from the effort of trying to slow down the crushing cage.

Will couldn't agree more. Summoning the Heart, she said, "Right, it's time that we leave."

"No!" Kimi declared. "I'm not leaving without my brother!"

"Kimi, no!" Orube stopped her. "Don't be rash. There's nothing we can do here. The Celestial Warriors are too powerful for us."

"If we stay here, we'll be crush and burned to death!" Irma pointed out.

"Don't worry, we'll come back for your brother later, but right now there's nothing we can do for him and nothing at all if we're all dead!" Will ordered.

Kimi wanted to protest but didn't. Instead, she submitted to defeat and summoned her Jewel of Life. Together, she and Will asked both of their pendants to take them back home to Kandrakar.

The cage collapsed after a brilliant light emitted from its center. And then they were gone.

"They got away, brother," Xuan Wu shrugged.

Hwang-Ryong smirked. "It matters not. Nothing they can do will stop us. Soon, Kandrakar will have to fear the might of Lusteria. It's a brave new world…"

Xuan Wu nodded with a sadistic smile on her lips. "Oh, I'm sure they already are."

* * *

After the Guardians finished explaining their findings, Yan Lin and the members of the Gemini Council exchanged concerned looks.

"I'm guessing you guys know of these Celestial Warriors?" Irma asked.

Lord Araël nodded grimly. "Unfortunately, yes. And what you've told us of your finding bodes nothing but ill news."

"This is something we did not expect," Lady Verlona said.

"So who exactly are these Celestial Warriors?" Cornelia asked. "And why are they so powerful? We have never faced any opponents like them before."

"Of course not, because you have never faced demigods before," Yan Lin noted. When they gave her a blank look, she continued, "The Celestial Warriors are not humans, nor are they spirits."

Ngọc Long looked on grimly. "They are the offspring of the Celestial Sovereigns, the old gods of Lusteria eons ago. Molded from the very elements themselves, the Celestial Warriors were created to protect Lusteria from its darkest evil, but it seems evil have consumed them."

"In any case, we cannot stand by and let them take over Lusteria, much less than watch their monsters infiltrate the other planets," said Lord Mathis.

"Only the Prince of Darkness can stop them, but we do not know where he is or how to find him, save for the Guardian of Darkness," Lord Gaël noted.

"But the Celestial Warriors have implied they have captured Kyochi!" Orube said. "They somehow knew about his connection with the Prince and so they have incapacitated him."

"Let me go back and find my brother!" Kimi demanded but the Council shot her down with glares.

"You will do no such thing!" Lord Araël stated. "None of you are in any condition to fight the Celestial Warriors again. But mark my words, you will return to fight, but not today."

Kimi wanted to scream, but instead she went over to one of the base of the tall thrones and punched it with all her might. A chuck of magical marble crumbled and the throne's occupant jumped off to reprimand her, but she didn't care.

"So what do you want us to do?" Will asked, trying to change the subject.

Yan Lin sighed. "There's no hiding the fact that you will have to return and stop the Celestial Warriors and their plans of conquest. If we let them continue to induce their Sins wherever they pleased, they'll make the Darkness more powerful than before. Should they succeed in taking over Lusteria and declare war on Kandrakar, we'll be too weak to stop them."

"But how are we going to do this without Kyochi's help?" Orube asked. "He's supposed to be the most powerful out of all seven Guardians and even he has been taken out."

"It'll be difficult indeed, but not impossible," Lady Verlona nodded. "I fear that you'll have to defeat Hwang-Ryong and his fellow Warriors to find Kyochi. But you must get stronger if you are to stand any chances of surviving the next battle against them."

"How?"

Glancing over at Lady Ngọc Long, Lord Araël said, "The Jade Dragon can oversee your training. It'll be vigorous and brutal, but with your current fighting abilities, I see no other choice."

Irma held out her fingers and began to count them off. "Okay, so we'll have to get stronger, stop the spreading of this big-baddy Darkness by taking out the Deadly Sins…and we can only do that by defeating these five demigods…prevent them from taking over Lusteria and the universe, and we also have to save Kimi's twin brother. Oh, yeah…that's a find list of things to do."

"You'll have one less to deal with," Yan Lin said. When the Guardians gave her a confused look, Yan Lin looked over to Kimi grimly. "Forgive me, child, but I see no other way."

"What do you mean?" Kimi asked.

"In order to prevent the Celestial Warriors from spreading their Deadly Sins to the rest of the universe, we'll have to cut off them out."

Five of the Guardians' eyes widen in shock. They exchanged worried glances…

"Wait…you don't mean…?" Will began.

"I'm afraid so, Will," Yan Lin said. "To protect the rest of the universe from this new evil, I have no choice but to isolate Lusteria and draw the Veil over it."

_**To be continued…**_

_**Cultural references**_

_**The Celestial Warriors are based on the Four Symbols (although, there are actually five of them), mythological creatures in Asia that corresponded to the four seasons, directions, and elements.**_

_**Hwang-Ryong is the Yellow Dragon of the Center and represents the element of Earth. In this version, his element is Chi/Energy.**_

_**Xuan Wu is the Black Tortoise of the North and represents the element of Water. In this version, her element is still Water.**_

_**Zhu Que is the Vermilion Bird of the South and represents the element of Fire. In this version, his element is still Fire.**_

_**Byakko is the White Tiger of the West and represents the element of Metal. In this version, his element has been changed to Earth.**_

_**Seiryuu is the Azure Dragon of the East and represent the element of Wood. In this version, her element has been changed to Air.**_

_**Fan arts of the Celestial Warriors are located in my Dreams of Lusteria gallery on my Deviantart dot com account.**_


End file.
